shot glass
title
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

J.R. Corey


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Elegant Quality

My grandfather—
a self-proclaimed son-of-a-bitch with a deformed eye—
lives in a trailer on the grounds of the old Euclid Beach amusement park
and eats Banquet T.V. dinners.
He gives me one of his watches,
the brown leather band clinging
by way of staples
to the scratched face.
The manufacturer's engraving on the back says, "Elegant Quality."
He always apologizes for a life that I was never a part of.
I buy him flannel shirts from Wal-Mart and bring him meatloaf from Bob Evans.
When he dies
he leaves me his savings of $500.
And I spend all of him.