A Tribute for My Grandmother H
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My Grandma H
It's a Monday wash day,
it's off to Grandma's house we go,
Mom and I
I'm riding on the package shelf
of our 1929 Model A Ford
We are off to do our washing, Mom and I
we used Grandma's washer
because we didn't have one yet
Grandma was my best friend,
and closest,
we lived on a farm down and across the road
I'd tell her my doings,
she listed with an eager ear to my yarn
Grandma had been a school teacher,
she learned to listen good
She,
I knew I was her favorite
wanted to know the things I'd done
The day I told her,
she knew already and had asked,
about the car
My Dad was buying a 1934 Chevrolet,
one with a back seat for kids
It was a secret, Grandma's surprise to hear.
But she already knew
and asked me,
"Your going to get a knew car, aren't you?"
I didn't know it was a secret
and so told her what I knew
My father hit the ceiling,
he had asked in the afternoon,
"Did you tell Grandma?"
He didn't ask me, nor let me tell him,
that Grandma already knew
and had asked me about it
That was the next worst spanking he ever gave me
I remember it well, never could forget.
Nor forgive, we never talked about it,
I've always held a grudge
Every year,
we'd go to Grandma's house
on Thanksgiving Day and for Christmas
her favorite cooking for me
was her scalloped oysters,
with browned and soaked soda crackers
on the wall of the crock
She was a good cook,
I thought the best
Like my mom,
Grandma had been a town girl
but married a fellow from the farm
Country mothers took care
of the chickens and eggs
and cooked and cleaned
and took care of the kids, she had five
Things they from their mothers
hadn't learned real well till things came up
On their 50th wedding anniversary
they had "Open house"
My folks talked about it some,
my favorite talk to tell was about the bar
Grandpa wanted a bar for his friend,
Grandma said, no liquor in my house
I feel Grandma didn't know until it was done,
Grandpa had made a bar in the barn
Grandma died while I was gone,
New Hampshire,
she lived in Nebraska
I lived in New Hampshire then,
I chose not to go to the funeral
She died at age 96 in 1968
I visited her grave later, every time
when I would come home
to visit relatives
I have written of grandparents before,
here is a link to those postings, URL
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- Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2023, All Rights Reserved
- Photo
- I am linked with dVerse Poetics hosted for prompting by Sarah at
she wants us to write of our grandmothers, I had two, Grandma H was my closest both relationship and distance.
- This was another write I almost made sitting on the edge of my bed in the middle of the night. Instead, I stayed up and didn't go back to bed, 5:58 AM on my day to sleep in.
- You can read other's dVerse responses to the prompt here, at
- You might be inspired to write with us
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posted by Jim @ 1/25/2023 04:37:00 PM
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