Tawnysha Greene

Crack in the Doorway

Grandma is seated in a pink
Nightgown, a thin tube running
Under her nose. Her two daughters brush
Her hair and feed spoonfuls
Of tapioca pudding into her mouth.
She looks at me, but does not
See me. They are speaking
To her, but neither of us hear.
I hear only

The clatter of jelly beans hitting the bottom
Of a glass bowl and her voice
Reading my letters as I sit in her lap
In her rocking chair
Next to the white trunk holding
Old telephones and plastic pearls.

Tawnysha Greene is a PhD student at the University of Tennessee — Knoxville. contact •

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