Chewing Tobacco
Dedicated to my Great-Grandfather Daddy Percy
They say that you were a mean man,
Yellowed-skin with a temper matched by none -
Your can of chewing tobacco sitting at your side.
The wrath of God himself sat in your thin chest -
Waiting to hurt and to burn in the fireplace of your soul,
Only activated by what was yours and yours to have.
With your tobacco filled with angst against the bottom of your lip,
You ruled your own kingdom of eleven plus some.
There, not even God could beat you.
But your tobacco ran out,
God finally took it away, sticking snuff in his pocket.
And your kingdom took to betrayal - all but one.
God had gotten to you - took your being,
Leaving you to your thoughts and secrets -
Your hell on Earth.
If you were nothing, there was nothing.
Or, so you thought.
You’d prepared for the worst.
The one you hated the most was your greatest alliance,
She introduced you to Beauty and Love -
Those you hadn’t met before your demise.
You found something that you never knew you could feel.
Love made its way through your veins and painted your heart.
It cluttered your mind and blinded you.
Some would say the young takes away the pain;
Maybe that’s why your eyes began to smile as I laid against your brittle chest,
Pressing my small lips against your cracked face.
I don’t remember when you died.
Mama and my grandmom say I was about two when you left.
But I remember loving you.
I remember the times I refused to go to sleep unless I kissed you goodnight.
I hope I taught you love; I hope I brought you joy before you passed.
Your life was so filled with anger and that toxic chewing tobacco.
My grandmother said you died in her arms.
I know you waited on her,
Slowly counting your breaths before she came to you.
She said you tried talking.
Your last words were ‘I love you.’
Angst rose from your belly and crawled through the window sill.
And as you shut your eyes,
You assumed the form of a protector -
Feeding into the hearts of your now small kingdom.
I know you’re still here.
I can see you tucked into the corner of my room, or sitting on the edge of my bed -
Sticking the chewing tobacco in your bottom lip making sure I teach love.
Just as we taught you.
Our Moringa Oleifera
Dedicated to my Great-Grandmother Madea
What seems like nearly a century ago
Stood a great Moringa Oleifera -
“The Tree that would Never Die”,
A great, sacred pride to the family.
Your tall stature and beautiful curves
Mesmerized all that passed you by.
The language you whispered into the ears
Of those close by felt like songs of angels.
Despite your beauty, like many pretty things,
Your charming being was taken for granted.
The man with the chewing tobacco began to
Spit his dip on the soil you grew on.
But, you fell in love.
You wrapped your long limbs around his torso,
And he grinned that crooked grin you knew
Meant that he was up to no good.
He uprooted you and planted you into the
Field he prepared for his own bidding.
Maybe you could make him love you
Like you loved him.
However, that was not the case,
For he often came home with the sap of
Magnolia and pine trees tickling his neck
And staining his dirty work collar.
Years upon years he threatened to cut you down,
Chopping your limbs off for firewood.
So you stayed, baring eleven seedlings to satisfy
Him and help with the caretaking.
The seedlings grew and scattered,
And he began to wilt until
It felt as if it were just you.
You reflected on the years that you’d lived.
You were tired,
Angry at the neglect and sadness that
You felt.
Finally, your roots began to give out.
And after a long time you started to
Topple over, breathing out your last bit of oxygen.
Without remorse, the last Moringa Oleifera left -
The beauty of the land chasing behind her.
Did you know the man with the chewing tobacco waited?
He counted his breath waiting for you to return.
And when they told him you’d become the first to topple,
He crumbled in your sappling’s bosom in order to find you.
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy
Dedicated to my Great-Aunt Mildred
The rooms were quiet and the walls barely spoke.
But Her heart kept chattering right before it broke.
Pittering and pattering, waiting for a response.
But, I guess it only found no one.
Loved by the outside but never cared for by the in.
Since when did wanting love from the one you vowed to become sin?
Though Her blood kissed the very ground She danced on,
Her heart wanted to beat for only one.
Her house built for a nation held a one-man town.
The roof tilted and the fire inside died down.
Heart became too tired to dance for him -
And though She wanted to stay for them,
The rooms and walls stayed entirely too silent.
There was so much room - too big to silence the quiet.
She waited for the phone to ring until it fell off the hook -
For her love to be found again and not mistook.
But her love never looked back at the leaning house.
Her heart could bare no more and took its own way out.
Stepping too close to the fire, it turned to ash and withered away.
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy - all she wanted was for her love to return someday.