—Poetry and Photos by Ann Privateer, Davis, CA
GRATITUDE FOR GRANDPAS
Who let me hang out
With them
While they fixed things
One worked at the zoo
Before retiring
One was a street cleaner
Though I learned these
Two facts long after
They were gone
One taught me to
Strike a match
One taught me to
Use tools while all
The girls worked
In the kitchen.
____________________
GRANDMA
Grandmother's breasts
Spilled into her arms
They collided
With my tiny head
As she smoothed
My hair and caressed
My shoulders
All at once I felt
Protected and unafraid
Her hands gave me
Confidence.
Who let me hang out
With them
While they fixed things
One worked at the zoo
Before retiring
One was a street cleaner
Though I learned these
Two facts long after
They were gone
One taught me to
Strike a match
One taught me to
Use tools while all
The girls worked
In the kitchen.
____________________
GRANDMA
Grandmother's breasts
Spilled into her arms
They collided
With my tiny head
As she smoothed
My hair and caressed
My shoulders
All at once I felt
Protected and unafraid
Her hands gave me
Confidence.
HEAVEN BOUND
Contentment
Lives in churches
Hides in hills
Thanks the thankless
For beautiful days
Together or apart
When day is done
But not forgotten.
___________________
HIGHWAYS
Get me up and running
Early and busy because
I did not know my home
Could disappear
Into the future
Where highways are
Concealed.
MY PLACE
I’m burning my yearnings
for love and fame, stop
wondering if the stock market
crashed and incendiary
cash went down the drain, life
is by chance, we die alone;
lately I’m beginning to depend
more on trees.
I’m burning my yearnings
for love and fame, stop
wondering if the stock market
crashed and incendiary
cash went down the drain, life
is by chance, we die alone;
lately I’m beginning to depend
more on trees.
ALSO
in another place far from
my domicile, a patriarchy
with a different face
and nonstop work that
doubts their elders’ place.
________________________
Today’s LittleNip:
We do not remember days, we remember moments.
—Cesare Pavese
________________________
—Medusa, with thanks to Davis resident Ann Privateer for today’s fine poems and for her photos of the lovely little hamlet of Davis, California!
Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA
Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry and/or
photos and artwork to
kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
work from all over the world, including
that which was previously published.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry and/or
photos and artwork to
kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
work from all over the world, including
that which was previously published.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!
