My Granddaughter is 14

In other countries, foreign cultures on the other

Doesn't she have a pretty smile?

side of Earth, she would be somebody's wife,
someone older than her dad, perhaps her granddad,
new and supple shapely maiden who would bear
him many sons or bear his wrath. Here she's just
fourteen and trying hard to get off what has always
been the path she's used to, maybe take a look down
some new trail that looks to me too dangerous. She
tries to keep her head above the waters
of society and peers and drama here
at home, not standard issue with a mom and dad
and picket fence, but generations blended
with a spoon that sometimes hurts when
stubborn lumps need more attention. She's beautiful
when smiling, complicated without understanding
why. And I am learning, every day, the language
that she speaks, that when she seems to want her
Nana just to leave her all alone, she's saying
something different altogether.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2013