Note: maybe it’s the heat (blessing of summer), but I just noticed my last post (be patient, I procrastinate, I don’t post often) was about this same poem! This one, again, a slightly different version.
It’s been an amazing summer! Beginning with participating in a class taught by Alison McGhee at Metro State! The class motivated me to get back to poetry. One of the poems I wrote about my grandson Ethan is an honorable mention in the Goodreads monthly poetry contest (this is the first time I’ve submitted anything-wow, what an honor). I haven’t written anything since the class, but as writers we shouldn’t be hard on ourselves, the writing will happen when we/or it is ready-but, sometimes we need to be among other writers to help make that happen.
Give Grandma a Kiss
for Ethan, my nonverbal, autistic grandson
I always wear mauve lipstick, give
Grandma a kiss—
He leans in, all seven years of him, knowing
more than I know after
67 years of thousands of kisses.
He leans in, without hesitation. I
mark his brown forehead with a temporary
tattoo. My kiss his kiss. Like no kiss
a man has given me. Words
not necessary language. His way
of love, spontaneous, silent
a heart organic, knowing what it is
to hold breath a millisecond; a mime
not needing to be understood.
But Grandma wants to see underneath
the innocence, to reach what she lost
or never experienced.
Later, my daughter-in-law, the nurse,
questions what she thinks is a scratch;
how has he hurt himself this time?
The hurt is mine; the gift unwrapped,
visible, transparent.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/17029183-please-vote-for-the-august-2015-goodreads-newsletter-finalists
