Letter To A Totem
Dear Red-Bird-Dotting-the-Snowy-Field:
For a minute,
I thought you were my grandfather.
And where is your olive-hued wife?
She is your perfect complement,
with a modest beauty, just like
my grandmother.
In January’s dark branches you perch,
perhaps as my beloved ancestor,
reincarnated into this feathered creature
to twitter away the bitter cold with me.
Your vivid presence calls to mind
the red dirt of southern family farms,
a yellowed ancient telegram delivering
news of your daughter’s birth to you
on a military ship,
and pole beans drying in the garden,
where your father died one morning,
leaving your mother too soon.
Claire Juno, © 2017
…dedicated to my grandfather.
vindicating vashti 