in my imagination

 

june 1970

i stood in the corner

staring at the tall flower arrangements that surrounded

my dad

i couldn't look at him

even though my brothers and twin sister

stood next to him peering into the large box

i felt confused and afraid

i didn't understand the chaos of the last two days

my cousin tricia six years old

two years older than me said

shelia your dad died in his truck

when he was coming home from work

go look at him

i stood there

i played with the yellow tassel on my dress

i sucked my left thumb

i remembered daddy at breakfast

the morning he went off to work

he picked me up

turned me upside down and shook me

i giggled so hard my side hurt

he sat me down in front of my bowl of grits

and left for work like he did every day

and in the evenings when he came home

i ran from him

while he chased my sister and me

throughout our house on mohawk street

and with his black, dirty hands tried to squeeze my face

i laughed and screamed and ran away from him

from him and his black hands

stained from his work in the east texas oil fields

Comments

[Wanda]

Powerful.

[kcinnova]

{{{HUGS}}}

[Blognut]

Beautiful - in true She-style - always powerful, always moving, always from the heart.

[deb]

Lovely and sad.

[Carrie Link]

love.

[Cheri @ Blog This Mom!]

How do you manage to pull on my heart (in a good way) and make it feel all wrapped up in love at the same time?

[Diane]

Stop making me cry, you! xo

[Lo]

Sweetness. Grief. Powerful. Love.

[Sherri Murphy]

WOW. You are a true WRITER!

[ms_teacher]

beautiful & poignant!

[MissM]

some people write, and others WRITE! You are for sure the latter... Wonderful!

[phd in yogurtry]

such a tender age, four. and such a tender poem.

[amber]

Love love love. Beautiful.

And how adorable were those two little chickies?

:)