a perfume you are sniffing easily conjuring 1915
a show on the tv is one you saw with wee
grandsons now deceased but the youths were
life itself in 1960
bursting with its authenticity
to be satisfied with what you got of live
with how you had lived and what you had tried
and the memories that bide
inside
must take
a soul swelling with delight at the greatness of all life
the pleasure of being nature to
die for
Grampa had a farm
Grandma gathered eggs
and if Dad caught them, Grandma would
cut off and clean and cook frogs' legs.
Grandma traveled by cart, pulled by a mare with a colt,
and when Grandma was nine months pregnant, the mare gave her colt the road. (And
Into the ravine went her load.My father, the baby, is fine and almost 80.)
Grandpa fished for supper
Grandma fished for lunch
Dad picked the pancake berries and they liked each day a bunch.
Grandpa watched the bugs and fish
he caught on to their ways
a phenomenal naturalist
he got to make it pay
he fished his life
but not away.
