Your old age and wispy beard always
steered me far away.
I wish I had more time to see you
instead of remembering that day.
Every weekend I would look forward
to going up north to see the farm
but never to see you.
It was a million years ago (hyperbole)
I saw you sitting silently in that chair (alliteration)
alone, outside.
You never were a talker,
so I pulled a chair right next to you,
thinking you wouldn’t talk to me.
Of course that’s not the truth.
You really talked to me,
the only conversation I remember.
Sure there are other things
like your love for big toys. (oxymoron)
I’m sorry I didn’t know you more,
but I never will forget.
Author’s Note: The type of poem I chose to write was an elegy. It was written to commemorate my great grandpa, who died in February 2013. As a kid, I remember being afraid of him not only because he was “old” or had a wispy beard, but also because on one foot he didn’t have any toes because a long time ago, a chain from a caterpillar fell onto his foot and he had to have his toes amputated. (I couldn’t really put that in the poem…). In the poem, when I said “that day”, I am referring to both the last time I saw him and at his funeral. The part that I don’t want to remember as much as the others is when he mistook my brother for my cousin, and the last thing I ever heard him say was “How’s your arm?”. My cousin had broke his arm in a snowboarding incident (or something like that), and my great grandpa thought it was my brother who broke his arm. I would prefer not to remember him as someone who was confused. The “every weekend I looked forward to going up north” is there because during the summer, especially when I was younger, almost every weekend, my family would go up to the Sheboygan area and see my great uncle race in his sprint car. (As for the farm part, my great grandparents lived on a farm, and technically my great grandma still does, but there isn’t a barn or any animals anymore). I wrote “but never to see you” because I was always super excited to pet the stray cats and see my great uncle race, but I never got “excited” to see my great grandparents. When I was in 6th grade, I went outside to read my book next to my great grandpa (as it says in the poem), and all of a sudden he asked me what my boyfriend’s name was. I was shocked, because, well, I was 12! Most 12 year old girls don’t have boyfriends. I told him that I didn’t have a boyfriend yet, and he told me that I should get one. That is the only conversation I remember having with him, so I had to include it in the poem. I made it a hyperbole because it feels like so long ago and like yesterday at the same time. In included the euphonic alliteration “sitting silently” to illustrate how my great grandpa never really talked, and seemed peaceful. The “big toys” refers to the excavating company he ran. There were always big trucks, bulldozers, caterpillars, and other equipment up at the farm. I know that he always enjoyed excavating. Lastly, I wish that I knew more about my great grandpa, and who he was, but I won’t ever forget about him.
