TALKFEST WITH LARA MCGRATH

 

I took a plane, a train, then a cab

once I got to Richmond

to find Lara McGrath.

I felt safe enough

with the sad old cabby

being the only white girl in town

looking for the oldest white woman left.

With no address but knowing her street

we drove up and down the block

until I saw the crumbling house

that use to be dark green

she rented fifty years

and paid for several times.

I had such fondness for her

she was an old lady even back then

all the letters we wrote.

She said come see her anytime

and we'd have a talkfest.

So, there I was

but now she was so ancient

she thought I was someone else.

No, my dad was your son's friend,

you know, your son Bud?

All the letters we wrote?

I tried to converse

whoever I was

and we had a weird talkfest anyway.