Notes About Grandpa Poem by RIC BASTASA

grandpa had a square jaw
a complete of hard yellow teeth
broad shoulders like his hectares of land
strong hands like his iron bars of words
he is hard on us
he is harder to papa who (if i were not mistaken
had a death wish for him
he should not have meant it
as anger was wont to
be)
he was soft on women
on lots of
beautiful women
grandma died when he was at his
hardest prime
and he had forgiven her
he was strict on codes
he broke all of them
sometimes i thought
he must have been too happy
before he died
crazy prostate cancer
ate him alive