Poetry & Prose

A Family Photograph



From the day
Nicholas was born,
he had his father's hairline.
The very thought petrified me.
I could see him combing
his hair the same way by age five.
He also walks like a duck,
again inherited from his dad,
the same scaly fingertips,
and an exaggerated need
for material things.
An interest in golf,
just like an absent dad,
even though he barely knew him
this trait presented itself
some years later.
He has a wild streak,
just like me,
dark blustery eyes that speak,
he also looks a lot like me.
In becoming a young man
he looks just like my brother
at the very same age,
but that would only stand to reason,
when he was a kid he could be
passed off as his cousin's twin.
All the kids in fact,
we could mix and match all day long.
Eric is my thoughtful child,
meek, and studious,
sometimes quite moody.
He resembles Poppy, my mom's dad,
but has the drooping bottom lip
like his father,
built like a brick *&^$$% house
but with a heart that rivals Texas.
A good looking lad he was,
the heart throb of every girl in school.
Now when I was young and brazen
enough to go auburn
I looked like my mom, a handsome woman
and my favorite sister Deb.
She was the pretty one
with a petite figure.
Now I look more like my Dad
along with brother Bill
and my not so favorite sister Sandy.
If you're worried, please don't,
as she'll never read this,
at least until I'm dead.
Amy Rae, Deb's daughter
is built like me ,
my sister warns her to be careful
we all know what that means.
But as she ages
it amazes, she looks
just like my mom.
I get my height from my
grandmother Ida Gray,
and probably her temper,
when she was alive
she was the family strong arm.
Look at me sideways,
you'll no doubt see
my grandfather Paul Vause,
straight nose and high cheek bones,
the native American heritage.
It's quite interesting
this genealogy,
how the blood lines run
through the generations,
skipping some,
introductions of new,
dilutions of time
and culture
and still, the past
will always come back
to remind you
in a family photograph.
And to think,
at one time,
I thought I might be adopted...

The inspirational photo
(new window)
CVB~ The Realist
© Copyright 2001
All Rights Reserved


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In Real Life Too! & Sherry Bocchicchio
© Copyright 2001 (All Rights Reserved)