Jimmie Ware’s most recent poem to appear here was “Family Ties” (July 2016) 

Grandma’s Prayers
By Jimmie Ware

Honeysuckle sweet under Georgia skies
That is where my childhood lies
Sweet Savannah breeze
On my knees with beautiful marbles as I marvel at the sky so blue
You can’t imagine what I went through
My Grandma collapsed in her garden, left us too soon
It was a sunny afternoon, home sweet home, felt so alone
Mama gone, my Tia Flora took me home and gave me family
Foster parents, I don’t think so, not the way of our family flow
She taught me to give—it’s the way I live
Simply beautiful like an Al Green tune
It was gospel gone blues on a Tuesday afternoon
Those heavenly hymns with a Southern sistah’s spin
She’ll sang you in and then you feel His Grace
It puts a smile on your face
That was my humble beginnings when I dressed in hugs and smiles
Pretty ribbons in my kinky red hair, happy to be nappy toothless smile
Here I am a million miles from those honeybee memories
The joy I hold inside; could fill a river with the tears I’ve cried
I know she’s resting on Heaven’s Stairs, and I know I’m living on Grandma’s prayers.