Poetry

Spirit Helper

For a grandmother and her posterity…

Photo by Art Institute of Chicago on Unsplash

waiting in the living room
like the coffee table
and couches,
but with something more.
more spirit, more strength / charm.

like a man tuning a piano in a room
of boys. a woman instructing
a room of girls
in a forgotten tongue.

the drum is designed with
the colors of the four direction:
black red yellow and white,
with meanings as varied
as an atom’s chances.

there’s a portrait of the family’s
spirit helper on its skin.
I will not say what he looks like,

but once you saw a white owl
from the portrait kitchen window.
that’s your husband, come back,
here to tell us that everything’s
going to be okay!

no duh, you said,
everything’s already okay!
then mom got dementia
and it become hard.