"An Ode to Grandma" By Miranda J. Gardner and Drawing by Carol Gregerson

Piece 2:

This poem is adapted from several of Ross Gay’s poems about gratitude. I used some of Gay’s formatting and other aspects of several poems from The Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. As I was writing, I knew I wanted to add an image to highlight the poem, but there were so few photos of my grandmother as a young woman with her bike, so I sent this poem to Carol Gregerson, and she came up with the gorgeous drawing that you see here.



“An Ode to Grandma”

And thank you, Grandma.

Last winter,
when we were mourning, warm breezes
and the cool summer night air
helped us embrace life and all its wonders.
The cerulean lake she entered
was cold and full of giggling children.
Their little fists full of sand and laughter
as loud as a Harley.

Her ears ringing
not with delight but agony.
She needs peace and quiet
to think, mourn and reflect.

Into a magical being ready to create
on notebook paper and pen
beneath a hibernated lilac tree
where a few glacial lines are written:

melody; and after singing
Falling down on frigid cement—
everything is icy sunshine.