September 2022
Bio Note: These poems are from my new poetry collection, Rooted and Winged, which will be released in September 2022. I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where my mother's family had lived for generations. The older I get, the more I realize how special it was to grow up around my grandparents.
Your Foot Bone Connected to Your Heart Bone
Afternoons that unspool, weaving extra hours
between lunch crumbs and dinner prep,
the air in the screened front porch crisp
as a newly plucked apple, the old rocker
the woman with the girl cradled in her lap
as if the universe begins from there,
the dry fat fingers around the girl's feet
and of course the foot bone connected
to the heel bone, tickle tickle giggle giggle
and their voices harmonize dem bones
dem bones, dem dry bones, hear the word.
Being the daughter of a daughter, the girl
formed first in the grandmother, one
of many explanations for their bond.
She taught her to feed the possums
and crows and accept the gifts they left
in gratitude. Stones, feathers, skulls.
On afternoons like today the pungent decay
damp leaves too long now on the ground
a reluctance to move forward except
to rock steadily staring at her own damn feet.
©2022 Luanne Castle
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