where did Opa go

/ mbrazfieldm

accordions were not of import to me

until you were no longer there

the caramel and gray plaid La-Z-Boy chair

sat gaping at the ceiling wondering as i was

where did Opa go

we didn’t really talk no one taught me how

instinctively you knew though

that i loved your oversized navy blue trousers

and your red suspenders

except for the lederhosen not my style

regret burns hotter at night

while i sit silently on the kitchen counter

alone in the dark sometimes with pained wrists

and old cracked ribs dislocated in my youth

sit along beside me good times

where did Opa go

time rippled down your face

porcelined and freckled

both by illness and by cure

you would stare at mom’s cat

as the din of Lawrence Welk

seemed to echo from the corners of the room

where did Opa go

remember when i was 13

my socks were old and dingy

five sizes too big

and as you shook your head

you took out $50 from your wallet

and motioned me to get new socks

i just shrugged and smiled

turning my back on you

Mutta’s fancy mirror

stabbed me with

your puzzled dewey face

at my ignorant rejection

why did i let go

Opa

38 thoughts on “where did Opa go”

  2. Beautiful and poignant write Hon. I also still remember my Grandfather’s chair. Only he sat in it. It fit
    his body perfectly.I still wish today that we’d communicated but I was young and really most of the time he just sat in his chair.At Christmas Time he’d call all the grandchildren to his side and hand us each a card with a ten dollar bill in it. Hard lessons are sometimes learned too late. 💜🌼

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  12. You’ve got me thinking, of my grandchildren, the first born, now a teenage girl, the youngest a girl just 4 and the two boys in between, all precious, all different, all ignore me, all share their time with me, as and when they chose, I ask nothing of them, just ask of myself, to be here as long as I can be, a constant in their life.

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    • The repetition reminded me of when a parent plays peekaboo with a baby and for a brief moment the parent appears to disappear but then they come come back right away but in this piece you end up losing someone forever and there’s very little closure because perhaps that’s an adult you still don’t know how to connect to those special people thanks for reading friend xoxo

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