Inheritance

A poem about discovering where the words come from

I am my great grandfather’s
great granddaughter

A legend
I never had the chance to meet
lives on within me

I feel him.
I see him.
I know him.

That stream of creativity
the current I tap into
when the words arrive
unannounced
unfiltered
and begin to flow

I have always wondered
where it comes from
How sometimes
the words fall
so effortlessly

Every report card said:
Don’t stop writing

But at some point
I did

My great grandfather
was a poet

And no one knew
until after he died - 
a box of poems
discovered
tucked away 
on a shelf in the closet

I hold that box now
And I fill it
with my own poems

An ode to him
A declaration
A vow
to share my writing
in a way
he never could

His poems
hidden in the closet

Mine
set loose into the world

I am my great grandfather’s
great granddaughter

He was a poet

And so
am I.