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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">As I thought of the fowl breath of my own immigrant grandfather WORKING IN THE U.S Rubber PLANT OF Naugatuck, Connecticut, this brought tears to my eyes.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> Stylist <stylist-bounces@nfbnet.org> <b>On Behalf Of
</b>Ann Chiappetta via Stylist<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, January 13, 2023 10:32 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> 'Writers' Division Mailing List' <stylist@nfbnet.org><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Ann Chiappetta <anniecms64@gmail.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> ***Spam*** [Stylist] a poem from Poem a Day poets.org<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Grandfather’s Breath<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ray McNiece<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You work. You work, Buddy. You work.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Word of immigrant get-ahead grind I hear<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">huffing through me, my grandfather’s breath,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">when he’d come in from Saturday’s keep-busy chores,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">fending up a calloused hand to stop<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">me from helping him, haggard cheeks puffing<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">out like grey t-shirts hung between tenements,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">doubled-over under thirty-five years a machine<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">repairman at the ball-bearing factory, ball-bearings<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">making everything run smoother—<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">especially torpedoes. He busted butt<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for the war effort, for profiteers, for overtime pay<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">down-payment on a little box of his own,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">himself a refugee from the European economy,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">washed ashore after The War to End All Wars.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cheap labor for the winners.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hear his youth plodding through the hayfields<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">above Srednevas, and the train that wheezed<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and lumbered to the Trieste, the boat where he heave-hoed<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">consumptive sister, one-two-overboard.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hear him scuffling along factory smoke choked streets<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">of Cleveland, coughing out chunks of broken<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">English just to make it to Saturday morning balinca—<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">how he grunted off a week’s worth of grit<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">hurling wooden balls down the pressed dirt court,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">sweaty wisp of gray hair wagging from his forehead,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is how the world turns. You work hard. You practice.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I hear his claim as we climbed the steps<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">of Municipal Stadium, higher, into the cheap seats,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">slapping the flat of his hand against a girder,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I built this, Buddy. I built this.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But mostly I hear how he’d catch<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">what was left of his breath after those Saturday chores,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">pouring out that one, long, tall cold beer<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that Grandma allowed, holding it aloft,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">bubbles golden as hayfields above Srednavas,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">before savoring it down and taking up<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the last task of his day off—cleaning the cage,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">letting Snowball, canary like the ones once used<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to test coal mines for poison air, flap clumsily free<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">around the living room, crapping<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">on the plastic covered davenport and easy-chair<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they only sat in twice a year.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I’m still breathing, Grandfather, that day<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you took me down the basement to the cool floor<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to find out what was wrong. Come on, Snowball,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">fly. Fly! The bird splayed out on the same linoleum<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">where they found you, next to your iron lung,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">where Grandma mopped for weeks after,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">pointing with arthritic fingers, See. There.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s where he fell and bumped his head.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See the specks of blood?She can’t work out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One fine morning when my work is done<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m gonna fly away home, fly away home.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Come on, Snowball, fly. Fly!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Copyright © 2004 by Ray McNiece. From Bone Orchard Conga (WordSmith Press, 4th Edition, 2004). Used with the permission of the poet.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">Ann M. Chiappetta, M.S.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">Making Meaningful ConnectionsThrough Media
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">914.393.6605 USA<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:Anniecms64@gmail.com">Anniecms64@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All things Annie: <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.annchiappetta.com&d=DwMFAg&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=reHprvDwsZOJBr-kahoQ-t_c6LAxRntHNA7PbEcwIB8&m=ijsZGdBtcwBfXnCqfbB_HzduRQnPwwIFug5FfxoHaaU&s=7X9YEENba7n4DgVV_MS9wGvaLaiqB4WhQdNOrV-BOjU&e=">
www.annchiappetta.com</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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