from early spring until the snow fell
Shoeless he walked to school
chopped firewood
gathered eggs in the chicken coop
kicked at dirt clods walking
as his Uncle Dion plowed the acres
behind the mule, with the 3-legged dog
Etta cooked grits and eggs
baking powder biscuits with honey
all in the woodstove even on
the hottest Tennessee days
He raced with his brothers through the pine forest
way down the sandy lane to the tenant shacks
raked magnolia blossoms on the huge lawn
They waded in the milky
farm pond catching bullfrogs
watching for snakes
and played whatever boys play
barefoot
in their denim overalls
At night they washed up in the metal tub in the kitchen
cranking water in a bucket from the stone well
never having hooked up the plumbing
to the shiny bathroom on the landing
They slept in the huge room in the attic
with china chamber pots beside their beds
They cut down the cedar tree one summer
immersing the whole "plantation" with the scent
and the green lawn with red shredded wood bits
and strutted in their teenage splendor
back and forth on the fallen giant
Arthur and Byron and Lyle the baby
handsome grinning faces so brown
their teeth glowed white in the photos
Arthur's teeth are mostly gone now
the thick dark waves of hair are short and grey
and spiked in all directions from the pillow
His sturdy brown feet lie quiet
blue veined and soft
whiter than white on the white sheets
He doesn't know his brothers are dead
for my dad on his 89th birthday
September 6, 2007
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