How Her Garden Grows (WC)

(Wendy Cabell, April 11, Monday of Holy Week (Jesus visits Bethany, Mary anoints Him), feast day of (above) Our Lady of Fourviere (from earliest oratory in Gaul), of Saint Gemma Galgini, Saint Metchtilde, Saint Sancha of Portugal, Saint Godeberta of Noyon (who extinguished fire with the Sign of the Cross!), Blessed Elena Guerra (Sisters of Saint Zita). Jewish calendar today commemorates Miriam's Passing (1274 BC) and Israelites Cross Jordon (1273 BC). Image from here.)

How Her Garden Grows 

(for Grandma Dee, remembered on eve of her birthday)

A pink azalea bush for our entry, she decides,

after all there’s the roses next door.

While in hand are Rosary beads-- 

song to Mary,

all that is worthy, noble and grand

has come from you Mother, 

from your guiding hand

while her own hand shapes the dough, bowls a strike,

shifts the channel to Little House On the Prairie.  

Her own house once so pristine only the pool left as vista, 

out the window by sewing machine. Come winter accompanied

by Elvis' Blue Christmas, as little french horns drape the tree.

Jimmy and I would toot them, later mimick them, convening our

Tickle Bug Club -- sneak under table, tickle the Bunco ladies’ feet.

Switch to silence in Buick’s back seat, slip tiny tissue bits

into Mom and Grandma’s beehives, they'll gracefully enter

Marie Calendar’s (none the wiser) for our potato soup.

Of course, Grandma’s was much better. Of course,

each sip remembers. Of course, each Rosary bead too --

potent brew. Whose seeds pass now to you,

well knowing your own garden knows

exactly what to do.

*Quote is from vintage plaque that hung in Grandma Dee's kitchen; a version is here.

**From prompt: Write a poem remembering an ancestor, as inspired by hearing several poems (Angela C. Trudell Vasquez’s In the Discount Lot, Luther Hughes’ My Mother, My Mother, Tupac Shakor’s The Rose That Grew From Concrete, Aileen Cassinetto’s Legacy, and Jasmine Harris’ Mama’s Recipe). From Jasmine Harris’ The Family Speaks: Sentimental Poetry (MOCA, Jacksonville), April 11, 2022.