Gone by: Helen Nerio, Mixed media, 2012.
Grandfather’s Hat
by: James Pryor
It’s black, with a United States Marine Corps patch.
Hidden in its brim, a cheap electronic music device
plays a poor rendition of the Marine Corps Hymn.
It still carries his sweat
absorbed over years.
I just found one of his gray hairs.
There is a picture of him with it
sitting in a lawn chair with his cane
at his parents’ grave in Chapel Hill.
He had it because of me.
It made him proud
even though he never said.
I made him proud.
Now it sits, in an unceremonious
and ironic place, on top of a grandmother clock.
It looks across the room
from its vantage point.
He looks across at me.