©Marion Post Wolcott (American, 1910-1990) Unemployed Coal Miner’s Daughter Carrying Home Can of Kerosene; Company Housing, Pursglove, Scott’s Run, West Virginia
wooden matchstick
towheaded girl
walking down those tracks
chewing on a wooden matchstick
telling my troubles to the wind
i won’t shed a tear
not one, not today
i have grandma’s shiny dimes
jingling in my pocket
the biggest piece of her big heart
bright as the light on that train
roaring down these rattling tracks
you’re my misty cotton, she says
you’re my little girl
now go
go have fun
be back before your mother gets home
or we’ll both be in trouble
thanks, grandma
i love you
i count the dimes in my mind
two games of pool with my coal miner friends
one peppermint patty for grandma
matchstick
pool stick
exhale
candy or tobacco, the woman asks
as i burst through that wooden door
eying the penny candy
glancing at the cigarettes
and chewing tobacco
grinning
here to shoot some pool, i say
tapping a thin dime on that glass counter
one peppermint patty for grandma, please
i’ll get it on my way out
they are fresh from the mines
black faced and dusty
unfiltered cigarettes dangling from lips
i drag a chair toward the men
who wants to play today? I ask
grinning
i stand on that vinyl and iron chair
showing off my best shots
shots they taught me
this is a my refuge
my solace
my private hideaway
(only grandma knows)
you’re not allowed there alone, my mom says
every single time she goes into town
leaving me with her mother,
my hero, my guardian angel
i know, mom
i won’t
i grin and glance at grandma
she grins and looks away
our secret
towheaded girl
coal dust on my hands and cheeks
chewing on that matchstick
heart racing
racing to get home before my mom
i stop and lean down
the world is silent, still
railroad tracks rumbling
beneath my tiny feet
taking that matchstick from my mouth
i strike red-and-white sulfur
on black-brown iron rails
stare into that flame
smoke searing my nostrils
wood burning black
down to my fingertips
i blow out the flame
grinning
flicking that wooden matchstick
into the creek
i run full-speed to grandma’s house
leap onto that wrap-around porch
fly through that wooden screen door
it slaps behind me
grandma, I’m home!
guess what I got for you?
(she knows but asks)
what did you get me, misty cotton?
i crash into her
wrap my arms around her waist
and stay there for a while
i reach into my pocket
look!
my favorite! she says
i know grandma
i know
safe warm loved protected
not one tear
not today
* With eternal love for my guardian angel, my Grandma, who knew only love and who spoiled me, kept my secrets and taught me the importance of kindness and the perils of anger unchecked:
“I won’t give up my room in Heaven.” ~ Grandma Bertie Roark
Country Roads by John Denver ©1971
Lisa Gault said:
I really liked the mood this poem evoked as it reminded me of my hometown as well. I had a grandmother I loved also and she grew flowers as well 🙂
Joan said:
I have been so beleiderwd in the past but now it all makes sense!
cmistwrite said:
Thanks, Lisa. I’m happy this little piece sparked a beautiful memory for you. IOur grandmothers kept us going so we honor them in kind, keeping their memory as vivid and vibrant as they were. And are …
Talma Marsh said:
Adore this beautiful little piece, full of sentiment and memory, my grandma would have liked it too.
It makes me remember that feeling as a child that only a grand parent can give you, that feeling of complete safety, and an understanding of life that only they can share with you, a gentle word, a loving touch.
You have made my heart swell C Mist Harman…..Thank-you.
Lissa said:
Unrleaalelpd accuracy, unequivocal clarity, and undeniable importance!
http://goanalyze.info/republika.co.id said:
and evidence of my position that jewishness as an ideology, if not a religion, must play a central role in the israeli enterprise, while some argue that zionism is simply another homogenous example of european colonialism. it isn’t, anymore than French conduct in Algeria can be superficially conflated with all European colonialist ventures in Africa, for example.