Matriarch<\/p>\n
That’s the word for you,
\neven if you’d never have used it for yourself.
\nThat’s the word, Nana.<\/p>\n
Barely over five feet tall,
\nBut in my memory (and those of all your other grandkids)
\nA titan of warmth and strength.
\nWe had our fights and disagreements,
\nPolitics and lifestyles, money and principles.
\nBut we all miss you, Nana.<\/p>\n
Divorced, by choice.
\nIn an age when Irish-American women just didn’t,
\nWhen it was as much as your soul
\nto leave a man who cheated, screamed, and beat.
\nBut for your kids, and yourself,
\nyou escaped, survived, and thrived.
\nAnd you taught us we all could, Nana.<\/p>\n
Seven children.
\nTwo’s enough to overwhelm me,
\neven with a partner and 21st century distractions.
\nI can barely imagine seven
\ntrampling, demanding, LOUD, little kids.
\nAnd then THEY started having kids,
\nsome of them not even out of their teens.
\nBut you managed, and we loved you for it, Nana.<\/p>\n
Laughter, and cooking.
\nThose are what I miss the most.
\nAfter life, those were the greatest gifts you gave us.
\nA meal whose savor draws a houseful of people
\npulls them round a table no matter their schedule or mood
\nand a wry, bone-dry jab that sets them all roaring.
\nThat’s the Family you taught us, Nana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Matriarch That’s the word for you, even if you’d never have used it for yourself. That’s the word, Nana. Barely over five feet tall, But in my memory (and those of all your other grandkids) A titan of warmth and strength. We had our fights…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64871,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64174\/revisions\/64871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}