Verse: Eva

if you asked
where she was from
she'd say ramea

at least
if you knew
about newfoundland

she even attached
a small stone
to a wooden relief

of that island
hanging on
her wall

to show you
where ramea
would be

and every time
she came to visit
when I was a kid

she brought me
comic books
from united book store

the flintstones
superman and
the flash

but all that
i would read
would be spiderman

it was
the highlight of
any week

sitting in
her tiny lap
while she read to me

which she stopped
doing when i began
to correct her

too young to know
she didn't have
much schooling

her thick accent
we used to get her
to say cathedral

and fall about
laughing
she didn't mind

to the untrained
eye she looked small
wrinkled

but you did not
want to be on
the other side

of that finger
that jabbed in your ribs
when you were bad

spoiled me
for macaroni and cheese
for my whole life

content to sit
and knit
or crochet

watching her stories
the price is right
all day

her gnarled fingers
wove the most
incredible things

without any effort
at all
it seemed

all the times
she called my brother
sam, not tim

the one time
we sang christmas carols
at the table

she always wished
we had done that
more often

i once bought her
a paddington bear
because of his hat

and a puffin
i dressed
in a mac & sou'wester

when her blood count
was low near the end
she would say

that she lived
two years too long
she didn't like hospitals

the last time
i saw her she said
so you're leaving

like it
was nothing
at all

but the one thing
that I remember
most of all

was that last christmas
i sat and read
her a story about a puffin

the only way
i knew
to make amends

to say i'm sorry
for all those times
that i corrected her