Growing up with an Old Dad
meant he was always dying, inches
closer than the rest. Mine survived
the Great Depression to grant me

a shorter bridge to bloodshed
in our lineage, my father’s great-
great uncle Stonewall (the Confederate
general) and Andrew (the genocidal

President). I don’t want to be
that close in time to them. My years
must stretch as far as they can,
long enough to outlive that legacy.

(originally published in Impspired, Spring 2020)