Yellow Arrow Vignette | LUMINATE
For Mawmaw
Chloë Williams-Garcia
We did not share much besides generational depression and a love for Lexington
Market—Berger cookies and seafood. I had hoped the potato chip stand would be there
by the time you took a summertime visit, but it’s May now and I’ll settle for old memories
in the old market with you. I remember you trying on Cameron’s prom shoes while she
was in the bathroom, the chicken dance and the Easter Bunny suit, cracking crabs—I got
you a hammer for your last birthday and I knew you’d never use it because we don’t
crack crabs like we used to, but I thought it would at least remind you of Christmas Eve.
I remember Christmas gifts from the Sale, expired foods on the pool table, sheds full of
shit we can’t get into anymore, snowmobiles in the backyard, Fourth of July fireworks
shooting up through the deck, ducks and sheep dogs and your hoard of a thousand
feral cats with their eyes falling out. I remember you falling down. We’ve got a lot to
figure out now. And I hope you knew that even if I wasn’t your favorite, I still loved you.
About the author
Chloë Williams-Garcia (she/her) is a poet, filmmaker, and creative. She holds a Master's in Professional Writing from Towson University. Her work has been featured in Sagebrush Review, Pamplemousse Magazine, Isotrope Literary Journal, Grub Street Literary Magazine, and Sunday Mornings at the River. She has been interviewed on The Truth in this Art podcast and hosts the "Laugh Til You Cry" poetry event in Baltimore. Born an Appalachian in Martinsburg, West Virginia, she now lives in beautiful Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband, cat, and bunny. Chloë hopes her poetry makes you feel something both strange and familiar.