With No Thumb To Hang On To

THAT TIME HE TRIED TO BE FUNNY

            

Backing his car from his home state,

looking for the light touch, comic,

too old by decades for clown college,

driving backwards for 200 miles,

he arrives at the stop light

in another town, facing a young

man in a big pickup flying

the Confederate flag. Without

thinking, he flips the man off,

a move he regrets at once.

When he remembered

Grandpa Charlie still isn't clear.

Grandpa who didn't have a thumb.

Grandpa who always made him laugh.

Jim Bodeen

28 Feb 2018