Who Called Himself Black Sheep

If we bought a headstone

for Uncle Jean, it would not be

a polished marble monument

revealing his life on earth

as son or brother;

nor would it be a bronze

celebration of his

fight for old men’s causes.

 

If there were a grave marker

for Uncle Jean, it would be quilted

a bed of flowers and onions

a tribute from his nieces

to pieces of life he let go.

 

“Girls,” he would say on his way

out the door to somewhere else,

“What d’ya think?”

About Maggie Koger:

Maggie Koger grew up in Idaho where she studies the universe and writes to bring a sense of wonder to the earth-bound. She spent a lot of her life teaching writing to students whose voices echo in her lines.  Her poetry has appeared in Slackwater Review , Idaho Heritage, Poet Lore, Mused, and Avocet.