When Mema died

My grandmother
Jolene Bracy
my mother's mother

She was beautiful
blonde
blue eyes
fair
wonderful
eccentric
delightful
real
She is my grandmother

Once she told me she was voting for Ross Perot
because it sounded nice
President Perot

She took in a tattered pageant dress
and, bead by bead, sewed
every paisley that was meant to adorn that dress
I tied for first runner up
She was there

When Mema died
I was in Texarkana
I wore pin-striped pants to her funeral
I read a poem
I raced home before it was over

Family is fragile
I rarely know how to handle it
I treat it too gingerly