The Old Red Barn

There is a place of dreams,

an old red barn with memories

of my grandfather who was

and now is not,

Buried beneath a granite slab

with Nana now by his side.

How do I recall the days that were?

With him walking the earth

With him feeding the cows

With him cutting the hay

With him in his chair silently puffing his pipe

With him fishing along the banks of Black Ledge Creek

With him rushing out the door during Christmas dinner, donning his fireman’s hat as he went.

With him that one and only time he let me help pluck the feathers from the warm breast of a pheasant he had shot—a task usually reserved for his grandsons.

And we stood behind the old red barn

Where his fishing boat stayed in the winter

Only to be towed back to Moosehead Lake in Maine the next summer

To the place of his dreams and deep desires,

the place he brought his bride to all those long years ago,

the place that he loved,

the place of his being,

the place that he died one summer.

But the old red barn is empty now

Save for his memory

or his ghost.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 1, 2015)

Bloodlines

Morning shadows fall
on the white stable
of thoroughbreds waiting
for alfalfa
green and fragrant.

I lift the bales
And think of my grandfather
Feeding his cattle
Four decades ago,
And know
That I carry his blood
In my veins.

I hear
the munching,
grinding, contentment
of horses being fed.

I feel
the blood pumping
connection
of labor and sweat,
and providing for
these animals,
this hay.

I toss another flake,
and stand almost alone
in a flurry of floating green.

~Kathie Adams Brown
(September 11, 2000)

Happy Birthday Grandpa! I still miss you.

OSI Prompt 51: Spectral

My Grandfather

(Photo by Kathie, June 30, 2008 Nikon D80, sepia tone.)

He could fill a door frame
standing tall with his fedora,
leaning on his cane,
pipe between his mustached lips,
smoke curling around him
in a pungent hug.

I hold the old cane now
in my stucco southwest home
far from the doors of New England
and the good earth that he rests in
next to my nana
his only love.
~Kathiesbirds (June 30, 2008)

Happy Birthday Nana who would be 102 today if she were still alive.

Prompt 18: Doors