Literature
Ben
My grandfather wears Thorlos socks
with cowboy boots or hard, shiny
dress shoes. My grandfather is made
of routines circling one another -
lodge, library, laptop - fish, beans,
cornbread, eggs. My grandfather is gruff
silence and rough hands with perfect
nails; my grandfather is action, not
words. My grandfather is named Ben
and he has been - been an electrician,
been a Mason, been a builder, been
a quiet, unyielding presence of strength
for the last seventy-two years.
My grandfather is losing his best friend to cancer.
My grandfather - my silent,
tough-as-nails, coulda-been-John-Wayne
walking cliché of a grandfather - turned
d