Norwegian Grandfathers - Kristy Hellum

[Larry Robinson]

Norwegian Grandfathers

My grandfather lived under the viaduct
Seattle’s postmodern Skid Row
Salt air softened his dark face;
	Eyes like the Aleut
	Cheekbones like the Chinook
He drank under the viaduct fast and furious
Like the trucks rumbling on concrete above his head

He was the Underground Seattle. 
One of its dark knights
He ate smoked fish
That scented his jacket the day
we met;
	Brown eyes like mine
	Round face like mine
	Missing teeth like mine

I was six when we found him 
Our father driving four curious grandchildren
To meet a quiet man who out of respect 
Wore a gray suit that hung
Limp on bent-over bones
Who couldn’t make his eyes meet mine
A weathered half smile was his hello

Descendants of the logging men
The failed gold miners 
The daring men who once sailed from Oslo
	Who knew the sea
	Who knew the salmon
	Who knew how to shape logs into homes
And children’s bed boards
Grandfathers, all of them
Who slept outside now
Smelling of salt brine aroma;
The Puget Sound

I met my grandfather living on skid row
Who still remembered when giant cedars
Came skidding down the mountain
Crashing overhead to the lumber ships below
Living under those trestles was desperate then,
Still is.
	He lived near the sea
	Drank near the sea
	Died near the sea

Norwegian eyes like the Snohomish
Quinalt his forehead
The Athabaskan face
Of lost men.

	- Kristy Hellum
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