Grandfather's Basin
by RC DeWinter
Title
Grandfather's Basin
Artist
RC DeWinter
Medium
Painting - Digital Oils-paintography-photopainting
Description
Copyright 2014 RC deWinter ~ All Rights Reserved
The Latina's Tale
Considering where life placed me
I've done well.
Yes, I was studious and diligent.
And practical - majored in business/economics,
but can't take all the credit.
I was lucky - diversity was all the rage
and there were jobs.
Starting out now would be another story.
I make more money in a month
than my father did in six.
My house is handsome; I entertain.
He died young, mi padre,
one of those all too common accidents
with farm machinery poorly maintained.
My mother left with four of us -
my brother Luis oldest, just fifteen.
So up from La Soledad came abuelito,
Mama's widowed father,
to care for us while she went out to work.
I wonder now how he felt, being nursemaid
to a pack of sullen children.
He was lean and worn from decades of hard labor,
scratching sustenance from arid desert soil.
But he could cook and told us stories
of his homeland.
When I was naughty he would swear
he'd trade me to El Principe Oso,
and I'd cry and say I wouldn't marry a bear.
His laugh would ring the rafters.
I don't know how they did it, mama and her father,
but we all went to college and did well.
I got a scholarship thanks to nuns and my ambition;
grandfather cried at graduation.
"Mi ni'a bonita, estoy muy orgulloso,
ahora ve y mostrar al mundo lo que puede hacer."
And show the world I did, as he instructed,
and how I wish that he could see me now.
The other night I threw a party for some colleagues,
and cooked myself the dishes he had made.
It was a huge success, everyone loved it,
tucking away billilos, queso flameado, chapulines
like hungry farmhands after a long day in the fields.
I doubt most of them knew what they were eating,
I'm pretty sure grasshoppers aren't their usual fare.
I allowed myself an inward chuckle
as I showed them around the house.
There were ooohs and aaahs in the den
as their eyes drank in the artifacts
I've collected.
But then one fool - I'd seen him guzzling the wine - called
"Ana, what's that piece of junk doing in here?"
And pointing at a shelf up in the corner,
he laughed, el burro, braying loud and long.
It was grandfather's old basin he was mocking,
the one he'd brought with him so long ago.
He'd used it daily, taking his small comfort
in soaking feet that long had steered a plow.
"It is my chiefest treasure," I said proudly,
"left to me by a man you'd never know.
But he was my protector and my hero,
and now I think it's time for you to go."
~ copyright 2014 RC deWinter
This painting has been FEATURED in
All Fine Art America
Digitally Re-Imagined Photos
Kitchen Art
Orange-Yellow-Red
Paints and Art Photography
Seen But Not Noticed
Tell Tall Tales
The World We See
Waiting Room Art
Thanks to the group hosts for their support and encouragement.
basin, collectibles, bottles, southwestern, antiques, vintage, plant, room, shelf, jars, washtub, decor, still life, display, rc dewinter, dewinter
Uploaded
July 10th, 2014
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Viewed 1,308 Times - Last Visitor from Cambridge, MA on 04/23/2024 at 12:05 PM
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Comments (19)
RC DeWinter
Ah, not my grandfather, Diane, just a narrative poem, but I'm glad you like what I've done here. Thank you.