She lingered on the porch,
left foot teetering unsteadily
over the edge, an old basket
of chartreuse figs in hand.
Dressed in a threadbare black
scented like lemon trees, she sang
our names in foreign accent.
Warily we guided her to the car,
and I saw the dampness in her eyes
from too many days of crying
in orthodox chapels; tears forever
resting on lower lids.
She spoke of many things,
mostly in her native tongue
and I nodded as though I were fluent
in Greek. She was surrounded
with an aura of fatigue, weight
pulled at her frail body and I felt
a wave of worry sweep over me
as her feebleness became obvious.
and I pondered the thought of blowing
air from my lungs to hers, tiny blasts
of wind whipping up one last resurrection
affording us both a little more life
together.
Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas is a six-time Pushcart nominee and Best of the Net nominee. She is the recent winner of the RED OCHRE PRESS Chapbook Competition with her entry Before I Go to Sleep. She has authored six chapbooks and two e-chapbooks along with her latest full-length collection of poems: Epistemology of an Odd Girl, newly released from March Street Press. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of online and print magazines including: The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine, Able Muse, Poets and Artists, Foliate Oak and many more. According to family lore she is a direct descendent of Robert Louis Stevenson. Visit her website:
http://www.clgrellaspoetry.com
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