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Volume 2, No. 5

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Grandma Lily Belle

How old do you have to be to hear family stories?
When you hear, how do you know which are eye-witness accounts,
Which are Mama told me, Uncle was there, or Cousin June said she said.
There's his version and hers.
What about speculative memory/memoirs. It must have been this way,
Or that.

I was forty when Mom told me about Grandma.
Not my grandma, her grandma, my great-grandma.
The one who dipped snuff & kept the spit can by her chair,
So when you leaned against the arm of it to talk to her,
"Stop, honey--here, let me get that thing outta the way. Now,
Be careful. No you don't wanta look in that. It's nasty."
She was old, really OLD. And she was an Indian, too.
You could tell just by looking at her.
I would stare & stare at her profile, at that hatchet-nosed old Indian.

Uncle Clayton said her grandma, my great-grandma's grandma that is, was
Cherokee.
Mom said she was an Indian princess. She said that at the beauty shop when
she was getting her hair fixed. I know, because I was there.
I wish you could have seen the way the beautician rolled her eyes.

Donna Hannah Calvert, January 2003

In my poetry group, we give each other “assignments.” In our first gathering after the holidays, Donna Hannah Calvert, the author of “Grandma Lily Belle” told us that her visit with her relatives in Arkansas was filled with family stories. So it seemed natural that our next assignment was to write a poem based on an old family story.

1. Families are the best sources for stories, especially those that are handed down from generation to generation. Start writing down these old stories. Sometimes they’re just snippets, sometimes they go on and on. Save all of them.

2. Ethnicity plays a large part in who we are. What is your ethnicity? Do you have a grandmother who was a Cherokee? Iranian? Irish? Cajun? Most of us are a mixture. Consider your ethnic roots and write about that.

3. The setting for telling tales is as important as the tale itself. Can you take a tale seriously if it’s told in the beauty shop? How many tales do you suppose a beautician hears day in and day out? Write a poem from the viewpoint of the beautician. Choose different settings and tell poems in those: the school cafeteria, the grocery store, a diner, at the prom, at the swimming pool, in the doctor’s office. Notice how the setting affects the style and tone of the poem itself.

4. Most of us have some sort of habit. It may not be as colorful as dipping snuff, but often our habits paint a picture of who we are. Write a poem about someone with a habit. Some habits are detrimental. Some are healthy. Use your imagination.

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Happy Writing!
Kathi Appelt

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