- Grandpa in a Jar
i kept him on a shelf / punched air holes to free that weird
brooklyn smell / he never came out / not for birthdays
or housewarmings / he set tripwire along the rim / but
a groundswell of company / clambakes & fireworks made him
unsteady / the undertow of agoraphobia / some days, i thought
i would have dumb luck / tapping on the glass / inside
the decibels ringing like jet engines / him becoming shell-shocked
in the fig trees / but if i was quiet enough / a french song
would crawl through / his muddy diaphragm / after school
i would watch his gangly body / perched upon his favorite
plastic covered couch / near the window / looking out
at the sunflower stoop / some days, i would hold the jar as a conch
against my ear & listen to him whisper : qu'est-ce que c'est? [End Page 46]
Natalie Louise Tombasco is a current MFA candidate at Butler University in Indianapolis, IN, where she is a reader for Booth: A Journal. Tombasco is from Staten Island, NY.