My great grandfather.
Herbert B. Willits,
lived in a small trailer
in a backyard summer green
behind his daughter’s house,
my mom’s aunt Alice,
in north Downey, ELA.
My grandmother Mabel,
Grandma Blaize to me,
watched us weekends
when my parents pleasured
in 1954 in Las Vegas, NV.
We visited Great Grandpa Willits,
slow, and old, and gray,
hobbling-wobbling on his cane,
dressed in a suit,
rocking in his rocking chair
most of his final hours and days.
Once, my brothers and I,
playing in his Downey back yard,
were asked by Great Grandpa
to show him our strength.
We flexed our boyish biceps,
did push ups, sit ups,
ran back and forth,
tossed a ball to catch,
acted rowdy in horse play.
He told us “Be strong,
be brave, be tough, be a Man.”
We listened,
absorbed his advice.
Decades later,
a Grandpa now myself;
I looked at picture
of Grandpa Robert Ast.
Amazed, I look exactly like him
in our Germanic faces and frames.
Uncanny resemblance: genetic strains.
Hopefully, I was adequately
strong, tough, and brave
most of my 65 years
as a Man every day.
Characters in this Family Tree:
Herbert Benjamin Willits (1870-1954)
Robert Dewey Ast (1894-1924)
Mabel Amelia Willits Ast Blaize (1898-1974)
Michael James Garofalo (1/10/1916-4/2/1997)
Bertha June Ast Garofalo (4/3/1921-2/12/1994)
Michael Peter Garofalo (1946-)
Cuttings: Haiku and Tercets (1998-2016)
Transitions: Haiku and Tercets (2017-2024)
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