Johnathan Jena (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/remembrance)
I am remembering and missing two people I loved and lost in the month of December. There is my beautiful sister ( the one I am writing my latest book about) who died suddenly and unexpectedly in her sleep in 2004, at the age of 45. And there is my Dad who lost his battle with cancer, dementia and heart failure in 2015.
I found this poem about my Dad. My sister wrote this shortly after he passed. So I am going to publish it here and if by chance she is reading this ( I assume and hope she gave up on my "woo-woo nonsense" lol long ago), you may never hear from me again. She will kill me!!!
She is a brilliant writer, much better than me in many ways. This poem captures my Dad to a tee...it is almost if I can reach out and grab the cap from his head when I read these words.
First, take the gleam
from the hood of a red truck
And then a small sliver of rust from its dent
along with the Virgin Mary, plastic and blue, from the dash...
Now add the smell from the inside of a ball cap
But only from one well worn – from someone who
worked long in the sun
who chewed tobacco because it was said
to be less deadly than smoking
But just in case
also take the few remaining Player’s Light
From the glove compartment because tobacco chewing
Is often as seasonal as two- tone arms
or very shy uncles
And take work boots – only Kodiaks will do
And trees on flat beds with their roots heavy and wet
and wrapped securely in burlap sacks
And don’t forget the garbage
On the passenger side floor—
especially the smell of fried onions from
the white paper box
Now take each of these
and place it upon the other
until you have the soft light of a summer evening
and your father pulling in the drive
My sister, 2015
(I will leave her name out to protect her privacy [and my life]...but it is copyright protected.)
I also ran across a poem about my sister that I wrote after she passed, while I was still grieving. Should have put it first because it cannot compete with the one above. lol. I will publish it here anyway, just to honor my sister.
Sometimes
Sometimes,
I feel you
here
quietly
sitting in a corner
leaning
slightly onto
elbows
resting on a bouncing knee.
You do not
speak,
do not pass
on your funny stories
or your
wisdom.
You don’t
blow smoke rings
from your MacDonald’s cigarette
over steamy
cups of King Cole tea.
You don’t
pull disobedient strands of long dark hair
behind your
ears
the way you
used to.
Nor do you cough in fits
or gasp to catch your breath
with each round of bubbly laughter
you release into the stale air
that I am, too often,
drowning in.
Yet...
Sometimes,
I sense you
around me.
Hear an echo
of that laughter
rumbling between
these walls of solitude,
reaching way
inside my heart
pulling out
smiles
from places I
thought were closed.
Faint traces
of your perfume will
sometimes
override the
odor of the morning’s bacon
that lingers
on my drapes
and I will
think of you.
You become a warm
feeling … then
in the center
of my chest.
That spark
that once stirred in your cat green eyes
will settle upon me
making the
hairs on my arms dance in delight.
Sometimes,
I feel your
sisterly arm around my shoulder.
Everything I
didn’t say or didn’t do
is forgotten.
I feel peace
as your
forgiveness wraps itself
around me in
the rays of light
shining in
from the kitchen window.
I feel your
love and I know...
I know…
it is
all going to be Okay.
Me 2005
It is all so very good!
