Restraint

I never knew my grandmother

because my grandfather put her away

for her own good

                            some say

she was silent & sad, very sad

my aunt writes to the family

Mother’s been so unhappy

                                           last Sunday

Father took her to the home

she’ll be better off

why someone believes

incarceration improves a life

escapes me

                    what she allows

the tyrant to get away with baffles me

in the ’40s you could do that

lock people up for being inconvenient

he prefers another

                              yes, my mother knows

he tried to seduce her too

my grandmother steps away

leaves him be, refuses to speak

to him

          she’s depressed, he says, no

says my mother, she’s mad, for a reason

locked away my grandmother escapes

everything

                 she doesn’t speak or move

she gives them her body

to clean & dress, feed & medicate

the separating power of space

                                                 she

disappears, like toes inside a stocking

like nits in a raccoon’s fur

the space where she flies free