For my Grandfather
I imagine you
Picking me up from school
In that old, gray pickup
You used to tell me could conquer the world.
I imagine you
Pulling over to the side of the road
Next to the vast, bright cornfields,
Smiling at me like I was about to be embarrassed.
I imagine you
With fresh corn crumbles
Dribbling down your face, stuck in your beard,
Your open mouth sploshing spit.
I imagine you
Laughing at old westerns,
Tickling me ‘til my tummy hurt,
And fascinating us with your fun facts.
I imagine you.
To keep you with me.
Because what else am I to do?
Remember you
As the man in the wheelchair
Who couldn’t form a sentence
Let alone offer up advice?
Because at the end of the day,
Disease doesn’t care
Who you are
Or happily were.
That’s the thing about it:
All the fun facts and fresh corn in the world
Couldn’t save you from fading
Into a simple, imagined memory.
Kira Soricelli is an English and criminology major in the Schreyer Honors College at University Park campus. She is from New Jersey, has published works in Penn State’s Communities in Crisis: Student Voices on Climate Change, and hopes to become a criminal justice prosecutor.