Grandmother

Black lacquer box
pink Coty compact
agate_____earring
locket she bought
5 and dime.

She and Aunt Pearl
photographed
_____side by side
black and white_____1955.

Walk through Selma
1965_____contentious
woman_____a look
of the Cherokee
_____about her.

Fur coat, glowworm club.

Did the jazz,
Jelly-Roll Morton
get you off your ass?

Communists, Black Panther kids.

__________Lid
emblazoned with toy
pagoda in gold
willow_____tree
__________river.

She was a giver
of lip, shit-kicker.

Stars never aligned
nor did they fall.