No One To Speak Of (Poetry)

My mother never
talked about her own
mother so it left
me with no idea
what my gran was like

The fact that she was
absent from almost
every family
tale — excluded
as though guilty of

something judged to be
a touchy subject
grew to bother me
her thin ghost haunting
as I got older

All I could think of
was her lingering
death caused her daughter
(only seventeen)
such lasting anguish

she has avoided
even mentioning
her name to erase
the scars of grieving ...
or soothe resentment