salted potatoes
warm roll with honey butter
turkey and gravy
grandmas homemade food
vegetables that no one eats
sweet apple cobbler
Grandma tried to look breakable, delicate, fractured and frail.
She wanted us to cough up the five hundred for her bail.
We knew her ways, and ignored her acting, though it was grand.
She had stolen the money from the U.S. Army band.
It’s not like it was the first time, and it would not be her last.
She was a con artist, a grifter, a fraud, just like in her past.
Her alligator tears meant nothing, we had seen her act before.
We gave her a happy good-bye as we left through the jail door.
delightful delectable delicacy
warm cherry peach tart with raspberry tea
I am so glad I was invited to partake
uh-oh, lemon meringue pie and German chocolate cake
what kind of grandmother is this? I ask my ma.
The kind whose baking stole the heart of my sweet-loving pa.
Meringue on pie made my swallow glands salivate.
as a cook and a baker, my grandma truly is great.
I have my grandma’s hands
Polka dotted, wrinkled, silly looking
Skin barely covering the blue veins
There is a snake-like scaly look to them
Plethora of wrinkles and bumps
With a jolt I realize she died at sixty-two
I thought she was old
Brings me to a shocking perspective
As I am seventy-two
wait until you meet the creepster my grandpa said
grandma came around the corner
that was the end of this conversation
what did he say to you?
nothing, I replied
it seemed like a secret
I spent six days on the farm before the creepster approached me
I could not tell by the voice if he was a he or a she
remember Big Bird’s voice? it sounded like that
he/she wanted all kinds of attention for me
I went about my business, feeding the chickens and lambs
ignoring the creepster for about forty minutes
Then he/she/it pulled my hair
that’s when I took the creepster down on the ground
landing hard on nothing; an aberration is not solid.
I felt more fearful of this entity after that.
I saw the creepster on and off for years; we were never friends.
Grandma’s button box and first aid kit were both mainstays in the kitchen.
We knew she had everything to help us if we were hurting or itch'n.
If we tore up our pants, got poison ivy or ripped a button off our coat,
She could have us fixed up in seconds, and then milk a cow or a goat.
make a string of hearts
as lovely as you can
put them under your pillow
tell the sand man
she did as she was told
her grandma would not lie
but she never did land
the perfect dating guy
Not the bee box! Grandma would say
We heard it each time we went to stay
She had something in there precious for sure.
We knew to open it would feel impure.
Our parents would caution, “Don’t go near that box.”
I thought it held a monster with sharp teeth of a fox.
When grandma passed in twenty-twenty
We had lots to sort out, I do mean plenty.
“Let’s open the bee box,” my sister whispered to me.
I said “Let’s wait for the other siblings” – there are three.
Our brother was the last to come in the door.
It was midnight, we could not wait any more.
We ripped that box open and stared at Grandma’s stash.
That old woman was a pot smoker, and here was her hash.
We laughed ourselves silly, my cousin got sicker than sick.
We could not believe this was our grandma’s trick!
Grandma mouse was thrilled to at last have Jackie stay over.
She gave him sugar plum sandwiches and cheese cut like clover.
Jackie loved every minute – his grandma was out of sight
Until she read Grimms faerie tales, which scared him all that night.
grandma’s kitten was outrageously large
The guy at the pet store had said “no charge”
They had to get rid of it by end of day
Grandma loved that she did not have to pay
The kitten ate bags of kibbles by the dozen
And chewed off the leg of a slow-moving cousin.
He’s teething grandma rapidly explained to us.
We could hardly stand this little cuss!
she is a bundled up cat
I have to give you that!
all snug and warm
Cozy, without any harm
grandma’s given her a scarf with a bit of blue
bundled cat is wearing her eyeglasses too
aren’t those glasses prescription? I ask Granny Inez.
Yes, but no one will give my cat an eye test she says.
I roll my eyes and the cat tries to follow.
Having a cat take my place is kind of hard to swallow.
You love her more than me, I accuse my Grand.
She smiles and they dance away with a Mariachi band.
Grandma’s face on a paper mache’ dog
What could be better? Nothing she thought.
Her overfed dog looks a bit like a stuffed hog.
We could not believe what the sculpture brought.
Behind grandma’s back we laughed our petootsies off.
In front of her face tears ran, as we tried not to cough.
It was the craziest thing I had ever seen, no contest.
She left it to me, for I was the one who lied the best.
grandma’s life had been difficult
her saving grace was the path to the beach
I took it in her honor today
my soul felt revived
and I recognized its therapy
Remember Grandma’s Love
She is in heaven now, a better place.
She is in no more pain at the hands of God’s grace. We know her love will always be with us Even though she is now with the Lord Jesus. Remember her smile as she touched all our hearts With the love and comfort as she departs. Her heart is in us where it belongs As in each one of us she is never gone.
Let us remember Grandma with the good times that we had Because she is in a better place and we all should be glad. She’s looking at us from up above
As we remember Grandma’s love.
I wish to once again see a rainbow sun.
My great-grandmother said this often.
I only saw one, she told us, just one.
But it spoke to my heart, it made me feel terrific
She was young when she began this talk.
None of us thought it was delirium or dementia.
She spoke of the rainbow sun during every visit.
We finally wondered if she had been on drugs.
There were seven of us in the car the day she passed.
“Look at that!” my cousin Marty said.
It was a beautiful sun, rainbow-colors.
She has what she wanted, we agreed, feeling peaceful.
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.