I remember him all so vividly
like it was so recent
far fewer than the close to forty years ago
that it actually is
My grandfather bought me a membership
a membership in the YMCA,
I was in first, maybe second, grade
I’d walk the three blocks
from Abner Gibbs to the Y
But I’d be watching for him
wary, nervous, ill at ease
He was always there on Noble Street
like he wasn’t let in
scaring me, spooking me
One-eye of the beagle
stitched shut, long since healed
a blank space, light like that around it
a hollow sorrowful gap
haunting me, running away
to learn to swim, the get away
look for Grampa, in the boiler room
in the filter room at the Y
August 12, 2006 20:35
(Raymond A. Foss)
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