Public Republic

Jill Kelly Koren

Photo: angela7dreams

Today we locked my grandpa out of the house
To keep him from bothering my mother about
The cookies baking; it made me feel a louse
To tell a grown man to get out, go out
With Paul, your son, out working on the farm.
He knocked and knocked insistently until
I answered. He looked at me with mild alarm
Okay! and shuffled toward the field, half-tilled
Where my dad was chopping stubborn roots with ax
And shovel. Grandpa might have gone to the car
Waiting always waiting to relax
Clutching the white plastic fan, so far
From home, idyllic, perfect small town scene
Your brother Richard chose from a magazine.