This July 4th Tradition

from Out With Lanterns, a daily poetry practice

On July 4th, we celebrate our home. 
Even when family is fighting, we party. 
This year we've been asked to ignore 
that someone came in, stripped 
the house down to the studs, 
alienated hungry guests, 
tossed them out in the heat, 
then threw lit matches into 
the nice neighbor’s yard. 
“But we always celebrate this day,” 
grandmother cries. She remembers the 
house when it was beautiful, 
the tallest, proudest on the block.
Anyone could come over and we'd 
give them food, water, comfort. 
Grandmother refuses to see the rot.
It hurts her too deeply.
So we will celebrate for her.
But before we begin, we must
decide that this is the year we
will shore up the structure, 
exterminate termites and orange fungus,
begin to rebuild. Because if we don’t, 
this whole place is going to come crashing down.

Photo by Stephanie McCabe on Unsplash