Friday, June 13, 2008

Dedicated to Grandma Petersen

dedicated to my late grandmother,

Ardis Petersen

Lost, indeed, but also found

in that space that lies fallow. One

senses an absence more powerfully

than presence. Gone you are,

Oldemor. Gone Great Grandma.

Gone Mother, aunt, sister, friend,

cousin. Never again to see

your wide hips spread at the vanity

bench as you spray your puffy

coiffure with aeresole hairspray. Never

to listen to you stir your cocoa so

loudly. Never to witness a twinkle

in your eye when you correct my grammar.

Never to see your half worked

cross word puzzles lying atop your type-

writer. Never again to be

beaten by you at Scrabble.

And in these gaps, rises something new

in my longing. An uncovering in myself of

that which parallels who you were. A

blessing billowing out from a faceless

place of unknowing, deeper than flesh.

Deeper even than flesh.

Copyright 2008 Maia Twedt

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