in a cockle shell
after finding him rolled up
and peeling in the drawer. I swore
to preserve his memory in glass

and not coffee stains. I cut it neatly
to sit in the frame. In life he didn't fit
so trim. But in death he wore a large
*** grin. He sat with his grandson

on his knee. They looked like cherries
jubilee. Before his cancer and
grandson's near death/before his wife's
last breath. Before the ambulance came

to the house, and wheeled his wife
and grandson out. Before his break-down
and residence in the asylum is this picture
of him smiling.