Winter Camp, Granddaughters

WINTER CAMPING IN THE MOTHERSHIP AT MISSION RIDGE

WITH TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS AND KEATS' LETTERS TO FANNY BRAWNE

            for Sammie and Dheezus

My love to you is 'true as truth's simplicity and simpler

than the infancy of truth.'

            John Keats

Grandpa, I went Number 2 and I left skid marks.

            Samantha, 11

Finishing Keats' Letters this morning

before and after breakfast,

working in the notebook, after

wiping down the commode,

I tell Dheezus about Keats,--

She says, Are you saying

I'm dramatic? half-smiling,

turning her head. I'm saying dramatic

is a wonderful thing. But I've lost her.

She has moved on. Sammie says,

I had to sleep over in that ditch

because Dee kept kicking me.

That's poetry, I say. Oh,

I suppose I can say,

I left skid marks on the toilet.

She would say, That's not appropriate.

You're on detention, and a note

will be sent home to your parents.

You tell her your parents aren't home,

to call Grandpa.

I'll tell her what she can put

in her letter, and I'll repeat

what you say: Ditch. Skid marks.

Sammie. Dheezus.
Words of the month.
Words from our mouths.

Jim Bodeen

22 January 2019