purple woman

the purple woman

crocheted into her

royal cardigan and

bucket hat like

a woman stuffed animal

bursts at the seams

with grandmother

she looks at me

across the rusted wood

of a brown table

in this place that

smells of old people

and leftover chemical 

like dad's assisted living

when i saw him last

he was smoking a pipe

with purple plumes

wrapping around me

i look for comfort

and candy in her

purple bucket hat

for it has been

so long since i

felt hugged by a

grandmother

who wouldn’t think i

sinned against god

and in her warm purple

i don't feel too far

away from a home

that i can't go back to

— June 2021, Santa Cruz, CA