Jeannie Alexander – A Bee’s Dream

Originally posted on Tenx9 Nashville Storytelling:
At Tenx9’s “I Remember” night, Jeannie Alexander spun a masterful narrative about remembering her grandfather–his grace, words, and beekeeping.  I remember my grandfather’s smell. It is my first memory. My second memory is of being carried by my grandfather through his backyard. So carefully we considered the apple trees,…

30 Days — Celebrating National Poetry Month — April 4

odd granddaughter sad by the standard of a cloud been ’round so long that i forget where my who my why my what my how my people are. skin cracked from bales of fibrous cotton laughter like spit from the mouth of God eyes keen from too much mill town odd granddaughter begs for back […]

I Got Your Pro-Family Right Here

I’ve been pissed about this since Reagan was President. You want to privilege some sort of family that never really existed–with the expectation I’m cooking a roast for my 2.5 kids while they play inside our picket fence? Meanwhile, real people have been remaking what it means to be family. Sometimes experimenting and failing and […]

Grandma

The young lady on the left is my Grandmother, Louise Ellenburg. Of all of my family members, I look the most like her. This expression–well, lets just say I had it a lot when I was a teenager. My 2nd cousin shared it with me yesterday and I cannot stop looking at it.