Granny

Granny was an institution a treasure trove of bygone days Laughter and tears, poured from her years her sometimes odd and senile ways

My great great grandma My uncle, brother, sister

and yes bottom right me lol

I had a great, great, grandmother
 still alive when I was a child
She was my grandpas, grandmother
even then she was a bit wild
Born in eighteen seventy eight
on a buckboard in Missouri
She had come a long way by then
she was fit and full of fury

We played cards everyday with her
beating her nearly made her weep
"Poopie, kacky, nanny" she'd say
"looks like it's time for you to sleep"
She'd wake me nearly every night
she returned from playing bingo
I'd play with her, games of euchre
sports of chance and foreign lingo

She would walk wherever she went
eat apples, including the core
Cuss and drink, then give me a wink
as she pulled the cards from her drawer
At times she would regress somewhat
"grandpa quit me in thirty four
Thought me uptight, he wasn't right
wouldn't run rum with me no more"

Her first picture was a tin type
"I was a looker in my day
I turned heads in the finest spreads
back then, I always got my way"
She witnessed many inventions
electric, lights to cars and trains
the first to own, a telephone
where she'd talk through the morning rains

At ninety she and I would watch
as three men circled round the moon
"We'll be on Mars, and then the stars
if I don't kick off pretty soon"
She lived to see her kids away
making sure they were buried right
"Yep" she'd say "I put them away
tucked em in for the winters night"

Once when we were playing football
and the game was getting quite tense
She'd sauntered by, looking quite spry
  I knocked her down, along the fence
She got up and kicked me senseless
too many bananas and beer
"Now you know, how to take a blow
don't ever show them any fear"

Granny was an institution
a relic of our bygone days
Laughter and tears, poured from her years
her sometimes odd and senile ways
She had outlived all her children
and a couple of grand-kids too
 War nor drought, could put her light out 
the toughest broad I ever knew

My family had a checkered past"Damn Revenuers"

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Author's Note

Our roots are almost always interesting. I think in my case I loved the roots to my great great grandmother. She was an institution. Older than Methuselah. I thought she was sister to father time. But she always seemed to take a liking to me.

Reviews

[Pratik]

This was SUPERB! What a nice tribute t your great-grandmother... Even though I don't remember much of my grandmothers ( both of them passed away when I was very small), I can say for sure they indulges in unmatched pampering when it comes to their grandchildren... They are the persons who can spank and cuddle you at the same time and that wouldn't make you feel bad! Your poem truly speaks volumes about the camaraderie that you shared with your granny.. those little details about playing cards, the football match, she witnessing the greatest inventions and journeys of mankind gives you a feel of the flow of time and that old-world ancient charm.... This was a lovely tribute from your side...If she would have read this she would perhaps throw out her arms and say.. "Come Tate, give me a hug boy!" :) Be proud Tate.. This is a jewel of all your writes.. :)

[R Smith]

a great tribute to a great lady Tate, you write the most beautiful poetry and with such an inspiration its no surprise, well written my friend :)

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Richard grannie was a one man show and three eu g circus all wrapped up In a sine package the greatest show on earth

[MomzillaNC]

What a terrific homage to your grandmother.

They live a long time in my family too. I had a great great grandmother who was still alive when I was a born -- she had no birth certificate, but the date she claimed as her birthdate put her at 104 when she died. My great grandmother (Gramma Mary) and my Gran lived to 90. Of my Gran's seven sisters, all but one lived past 85. Of her eight brothers, I don't think any made it past 70.

[Tate Morgan]

Hi thank you well I always said my granny left this world when she was good and ready . I think she probably played god a few hands for her soul now and then

[MomzillaNC]

YVW and LOL! :D

[Tate Morgan]

She cussed drank gambled smoked cigars and ran whiskey in her younger days they dont make em like that anymore

[MomzillaNC]

Not my grandmothers. They were teetotalers, opposed to gambling, and would have nothing to do with smoking. My Gran and my great great grandmother (on Gran's father's side) were stern, loving and dominating; they never forgot and never let go of anything. Gramma Mary was soft-spoken, gentle, forgiving, and determined. They always stood for what is right, even to their own detriment. My Gran worked in a factory where she was paid $3 a day; a Black woman working right next to her, doing the same work was paid $1. And, the Black woman was bullied and cajoled into working 16 and 18 hour workdays, while Gran was never asked to work more than 10 or 11 hours a day. The supervisor was a real b*****d; Gran protested that she should be paid more and got her a quarter more an hour. But, the supervisor also felt he had free reign to abuser her. He made hateful remarks to the woman all the time. One day she wasn't moving fast enough for him; he balled up his fist and slammed it down on top of her head, then kicked her and shouted her back to her feet when she collapsed under the blow. The woman never made a sound. My Gran sure did though. She wasn't a tall woman; but, she put all of her five feet between him and the woman and opened her mouth and let him have it with both barrels. She kept lunging up at him, busty chest first, wagging her finger under his nose till he went cross-eyed; she had him back up against one of the machines when the owner came out. Gran was first famous for that incident, apparently (she was locally famous for many other incidents too). But, when I was about eight or nine, I was told this story by Sweety (the owner of Sweety's Garage), a raucously jovial man who gossiped like an old fishwife. He told me -- laughing so hard he teared up -- when that old supervisor sped off in his car, spinning his wheels in the gravel, after Gran pulled into Sweety's.

Gran and the Black woman lost their jobs that day. But, y'know, that supervisor gave my Gran a wide berth ever after. The, by then old, Black woman was one of my Gran's tenants and one of her customers many years later when I was a little girl. Every time we went to her house to collect the rent or the paper bill (this was in the days when paper delivery was managed in districts, one of which my Gran managed), the woman would come rushing out of her house and fall on my Gran's neck like she was a long lost sister.

[MomzillaNC]

Gramma Mary used to feed people out of the family stores (they had four of them in three towns) during the Depression. If they'd work an hour in the field (they also grew produce, cotton and tobacco back then), she'd give them a week's groceries, especially if they had children.

Any hungry child could come to her door and she'd have a cheese sandwich and soup for them back then.

[Tate Morgan]

Thats quite the story . You have a great past.

[MomzillaNC]

Well, my grandmothers had a great past… I'm just lucky to be related to them! :D

[Len Gesinski]

Warm Memories Live On...qualities that We should all strive for. Powerful Write....

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Len

[Cree Nations]

Great tribute Tate. I too was blessed to know a set of great-grand parents. Her name was Mintie Mae. And she was something. I was five when we had an F5 tornado hit our town, and me and my Granny Barner spent 36 hours in a storm cellar waiting to be dug out. She never once faultered...strong rock and anchor. Thanks for the read.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Che I remember my own so well cut from a different cloth

[Renée]

What a treasure you have/had in your life Mr. Morgan ! And how fortunate she was to have a Grandson that adored her as the individual she was ! Thank you for sharing this feisty lady with us !

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you i seem to come from along line of survivors

[Renée]

was a delight to read...high five to that ..me 2.... grandpa passed at 98, my gg was 104 ..wonder if WC will last as long as we will? ( ;

[Tate Morgan]

lol i have no idea i released my new book today it is done

[Renée]

very cool ! I wish you much success with it....now go hydrate and get some rest ( ;

[Tate Morgan]

will do i am in bad shape

[Mary C]

Amazing! I'd grant you thundering applause if I could.

[Tate Morgan]

Awe my granny would laugh too

[Stella Armour]

aw, i didn't have the pleasure of knowing my grandparents.. but i will tell you a secret, i am a great grandmother and just love all these little people that have been born because of my seed.I can see my children in them and myself..... you would have to be a great grandmother to understand the love..i cry sometimes when i cuddle my grandchildren...a beautiful tribute here Tate..

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you I am a gradparent but not a grat one yet i can only imagine

[Stella Armour]

i try to give them all the love i would have bestowed on my grandparents had i known them...it's something i miss deep inside.

[VALORMORE DE PLUME]

This is great. Congrats on winning get published.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you so much I think granny would like it

[Pointblank]

Awesome. Such a real person. I loved my Granny too. Always straight up.
Our elders who have passed have a way of becoming saints and angels.
Like yours..mine was real and honest and flawed.. but most of all..Loved. Very Loved!

Great write!

[Tate Morgan]

thank you