Grandma

She left in the morning

With breathing tubes down

Her throat and the words “come visit me”

About to leave her lips

13 days of solitude were

Her wish come true, her

Last wish. Her long raven

Hair tucked in a braid

Underneath her, dark

Black from the aloe

She used to eat

Every day. The slimy

Strings turned her

Hair into strong,

Raven black strands.

She kept a wallet

With pictures of all of her

Grandkids, a memory

Across the ocean

In her hands. And

When she received long-distance

Phone-calls that the

Tooth fairy was visiting,

She reminded us that

Those teeth better be buried

And not thrown away.

She would never

Be seen outside when

The sky turned dark blue

No spirits would ever

Possess her as she

Was in the safety

Of her own home.

When night fell

Her body left

Without a sound

Free of curses

And of wrinkles

Her phone call

Was made just

To say I’m fine.

“Grandma went to

The hospital, She’s

Not fine.”

It’s not fine that

Years of denial

Led her to her

Casket, its not

Fine that leaving

The house at sunset

Left her breathless.

Her face still lives

My mother is an

Exact copy of grandma

The punnett square

Pioneered perfectly

Raven hair and circular cheeks

For the both of them

My grandmother is a raven

Residing in a world of spirits

That have left this world and onto level 2

Breathless from her journey