Never got to
“KNOW” this man,
Mother’s father.
One time
coal miner, blaster,
Turned auto assembly line
worker.
Union
militant, enforcer,
Quick to violence,
Beer
swelling, whiskey consuming,
Hunter, angler.
He left the
coal mines in Pennsylvania,
An explosive expert,
A mine
accident left him unable to work,
So he brought his family to Michigan for work.
Now this is
the story I’ve been told,
But I remember no disfigurement;
old photos show no trace of pain,
So I ask
myself “Why did he leave that land?”
Was there scandal or shame? Guess I’ll never know.
He died just
after I turned five.
And only two memories of him
survive,
Buried in
the recesses of my mind,
No hugs or love or soft spoken words, only these two.
I was
sitting by his chair playing,
He was seated, reclining.
Hams beer on
the table,
Newspaper in hand.
His glasses
shoved up on his forehead.
When suddenly the silence was
broken,
“Grace where
the hell are my glasses?”
I ran crying to find my mother.
I was told
that he died, had gone away.
Of course I didn’t understand,
only a child of five,
So I pulled
a chair to the coffin, to look down on him,
Only these two memories survive.
I have heard
stories and tales,
His favorite pointer was bred by
a mutt,
The puppies
were placed into a sack,
Tossed into a rain barrel to
drown.
When a dog
would “no longer hunt”,
He shot them dead in the woods,
What good is
a dog that won’t hunt?
Not worth the food to keep them
alive.
Enforcing
his caucus in the union.
Strong arming a vote,
Breaking the
legs of a vocal dissident,
Support his cause or else.
A son
injured in a sledding accident,
Almost scalping himself,
Can’t waste
the money on a doctor or medical care,
Held him down and sowed it back
in place,
A son who
wouldn’t leave the other boys “alone” at night,
He would tie his hands behind
back and make him sleep like that
Missed my
parents wedding because of work,
Trying and (failing) to outdrink
my Dad,
Like I said
I never “KNEW” him,
These are the tales I was told,
Funny though
how no one spoke good things,
Of their father, grandfather,
brother.
Suddenly
after all these years,
He begins to haunt me,
I wish he
would go away,
He still scares me.
Roy Richard
September
2022
Copyright Roy Richard
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