Poetry Reading: Cherry Coke: A Drink For The Young, by Aiden Brown

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

For my Granny, Charlotte (1932-2021)

A clear cup half-filled with water stood
on the table, glistening with anticipation.

Outside, light blue and purple bloomed from stems.
Charlotte’s careful eyes zoned in on the bush across
the street and waited for the right time to strike.
Early April breeze carried the lilac sweetness

through the town. She analyzed their cloy
smell, toes dug into her property line.
The bush clogged her eyes with nostalgia:
this one was smaller than the ones she had years before, that grew

as tall as her house. Those were poisoned by the Patuxent
River runoff, but these had an even stronger will than she did.
The creaky picnic table housed her tools—dirt caked
scissors and a bottle of Cherry Coke.

Veins collapsed with a snip; the wood had started to die,
but the flowers grew more vibrant against her transparent hands,
and rattled, anxious to find a new home.
“Granny, what are you doing?” A curious child called out.

“Taking your Lilacs!” She skirted back onto her property,
a caffeine skip in her step.