Crystal Wilkinson: Witness

I’m convinced that if you could

have seen my grandmother

standing in the doorway

waiting for him to come home from the fields,

if you’d smelled that spectacular evening thick

with sweat & felt the pulsing of the stars, if

you’d borne witness

to the animals’ moans echoing in the holler

that night, if you just could have seen the

hair rise up

on granddaddy’s arm like that, like

offerings to god, when his elbow touched

hers, if you could have seen

her longing dissipate just a little as he came

through the door smelling like a day’s work, you

should have seen them close enough to breathe

the same air while not even touching.

(He smiled at her without smiling.) If you could

have seen them watching me watch them, then

you’d know how much i love you. If you could

have heard her say, You want some supper?

We got pie.