Paternal Grandmother demanded nothing less
than full title
no shortenings or endearments
that would let us move in close
I only saw her once
Valkyrie gone to seed
enclosed by an honest-to-god whalebone corset

She slept in my room
the only space that fit her
beside my four-year-old self
I watched her wrap
the great off-white sheath about her
pulling the long crossed laces
armoured against any intimacy

No one dared hug that barrel
She wound great grey ropes of hair
into a helmet
armed with metal pins for any confrontation

None of her words invade my memory
just this image
and the secret that my sister would tell
in years to come

They say Grandfather killed himself
hanging
in the basement
She listened, bathed in the bulb’s white light
until he gasped his last
Then she called her sister

first pub Descant # 139

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