my great grandfather
wore slavic shoes
he brought them from
the old country along with a slavic name
and a slavic wife
they were known
as Joseph and Mary surname
ending in (wicz)
they had five children
they wore american shoes - shoes
they shared, shoes that
knew walking and working
one child was named Joseph his
name ending in (vich) -
he married Grace
she made Joe leave his shoes
on the porch, wash his
hands and go to mass on Sundays
she sat in the back
seat of the car, wore her
Sunday shoes, and
she wore her
babushka
Joseph was my
grandfather - gave me a maiden
name no one could pronounce
correctly - so i was
set on changing it first chance -
as a grandfather
he walked a lot, laughed
a lot and when Grace was dying
he got drunk and cried
yet, he passed down
a name and a pair of
shoes i could never
walk in - they were too big for me
like his slavic heart
bkmackenzie
copyrighted 2011
The church is St. Peter and Paul in Gilman MN - my grandfather helped to construct this church as well as all the parishioners - all my Slavic ancestors are buried there bearing two different versions of name - binding the old world to the new..
