Two Poems

In light of Saturday's post, here are two poems inspired by Grandpa.

Emulsion

And Jacob called unto his sons…
-Genesis 49:1

Within this fading color photograph,
a father holds his firstborn son’s
first son. The infant, wrapped
in time and heritage, cradles
between his grandpa’s chest
and the crook of his grandpa’s arm.

The graying man measures the boy
through heavy glasses, anticipating
his name, then lays a callused hand
on the child’s silence and exhales.

****

Patriarch

Pulling his brand-new Cadillac hip
from the wheelchair
exhausts his heavy legs.

So I take one arm, my
brother-in-law the other;
and sustaining eighty-year’s weight,

we raise our Moses
before his tree. He gathers light
through its branches and steadies,
holding the darkness at bay.