my grandfather Edward
left home when he was a boy
and changed his last name
in his teens he was arrested for stealing a cow

then he joined the Air Force and became a photographer
smoked ***** with fishermen
photographed bombs being dropped

then he married my grandmother Evelyn
and they had 3 girls
one of them died as an infant
and one was my mom

i remember him as a quiet man
i was very little
he smoked a pipe and carried a pocket knife
he twiddled his thumbs which had no thumbnails

and in 1994 when i was 7
he shot my grandmother in her sleep
then himself

and i will never forget him.