Going After Mistletoe
Nana was there for the birth
so when her child could drive again
we went to cut the mistletoe,
grandmother and mother in the front,
babies in the back.
The Dodge made its way through
dusty Arkansas, and mountain roads
powdered up in clouds.
Autumn deep, but the sun hadn’t
given up the drought.
They found the grove across a field
that reached out towards the river;
one tree held the treasure.
Mistletoe, green and fat with sticky pearls,
glittered towards the top.
Our mother handed back the keys to
a car the other couldn’t drive
and slid the pen knife in her pocket.
Three weeks old, my sister slept as
One woman scaled the tree.
She freed the bundle from its perch,
and made a sling out of her jacket.
She dropped it straight, then
found the branches down.
Nana finally asked, “And if you’d fallen?”
Invaded doves sent out their call,
and I thought ghosts were waking.
I cried, and hid behind the car door.
Our mother said to us all, “I never fall.
There’s nothing here to hurt you.”
About this poem
This poem is part of a memory of my grandmother and mother, and a dusty ride in an old car somewhere in Arkansas before Christmas.
Font size:
Written on May 23, 2016
Submitted by jodyserey on April 11, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 48 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XABXX CXXBX XDDXX CXEXX XEAXX FXXFC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,015 |
Words | 211 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Going After Mistletoe" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/158582/going-after-mistletoe>.
Discuss the poem Going After Mistletoe with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In