In Remembrance of

James Garland Wright II:

I remember the days

When I wanted to

Marry daddy

The days hung

In the sunshine

The painless nights

But I remember

The pain and

The cries

A leather belt

Brought down

On soft flesh

I remember

Me being tickled

For sitting on

His bed, tickled

Until they had to stop

The day when the

U-Haul was pulling out

Of the drive with every

Piece of my heart but him

I remember his begging

And I remember my tears

And my waving good-bye

I remember the auburn hair

To the nape of his red neck

I remember the fiery

Orange Chevy in the drive

I remember the tulip tree

And trying to get the dumb

Gray cat down

I remember momma calling

Him ever name under the sun

I remember living with grandma

And grandpa, yearning to be free

I remember hearing the radio play

Walk a Little Straighter, Daddy's Hands,

I Love You This Much, among various

Other songs

Day after day, year after year I defended

This man I lived so dearly

Most clearly I remember three years ago

In early April, the bluish-teal

Of his casket

The curl of his red, turning brown, hair

His punctuated nose and cheekbones

The black and white

I'd never imagined him in

His eyes shut forever

Blank to the world of knowing

His daughter, this daughter

That loves him so much

And defends him to this day