Grandmother Did Not Keep Journals

222 Replies

 

She could barely read.

Yet she raised nine children 

(all the kids sent to the barn

on the day the next one was born)

in a small four room house

with morning glory coal stove,

enormous garden and orchard,

chickens in the backyard coop 

and outhouse towards the barn,

an outdoor pump for water.

Pancreatic cancer late 80s. After

 

she died, the retired couple 

who bought the farm at auction

dismantled the house because 

they found it completely infested 

with termites after all those years.

The secrets, the lovemaking, 

the laundry, the weeping, 

the loss of the six week old,

the struggles, the joys. All 

wiped out except for those written

in our sinew and bones.

 

—Melva Sue Priddy

222 thoughts on “Grandmother Did Not Keep Journals”

  2. Sherry

    in our sinew and bones — yes.

    This story could be mine except it would be my mother, not my grandmother.

    Reply ↓
  4. Sue Neufarth Howard

    I like the description of the sad ending, wrapped up with “all wiped out except those written in our sinew and bone.”

    Reply ↓

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