Mary

merry Mary
everyone loves
your smile
tap dancing
playfully silly
never grew 
up silly 
grandma falls
in closet
knocked over
by grandson
who does
not think
beatings with
Hot Wheels 
tracks are
so silly 
grandma laughs 
and toe 
is broke
silly grandma

merry Mary
laughs all
the way
towards the
bank of
river encouraging
her grandson
over Thai 
food in 
Ashland bookstore
that he 
is loved 
but conditionally
silly grandma 

merry Mary 
laughing all
the way
to the 
bank full
of skeletons
she would
rather not
see or 
hear as
they cackle
laughing silly
grandma the
dead do 
not die
they live
in your
cerebral embolisms

merry Mary
always laughing
the silly
grandma that 
everyone loves
who could
not love 
your meticulous 
curation of 
history or
your cult 
attachments Jehovah
Witness my
silly grandma
laughing all
the way
to Paradise
in her 
end times
singing silly
songs as 
she becomes 
focused serious
on her
fear that 
she wasted 
her life
destroying her
relationships with
me, Randy
and even
herself so
silly grandma 

merry Mary
you can
take this
to the 
banks of
the Rogue 
River and 
drop this 
silly poem
as the 
water rises
to your 
neck that
bends the
head of 
the household
is not
that what 
you called 
yourself in 
relation to 
serious grandpa?