When Grandpa Read the Comics

On Sundays when we visited

our grandpa closed his tool shed

just like a kindly Pied Piper

he led us to a wondrous world

 

With brown and gnarled hands he drew

caricatures of his neighbor

giving the old man ears so large

he'd always hear when dinner called

 

We'd beg to hear the comic strips

he'd read us Blondie and Dagwood

and flex his arms like Popeye did

after he'd eaten his spinach

 

His handmade rocker was the throne

we enthralled children gathered round

our grandma's pumpkin pie could wait

'til Grandpa finished the comics.

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About Judy

Judy Francis retired a few years ago as an adjunct composition instructor at Lincoln Trail College. Since then, she's been a member of a writers' group in Terre Haute and attends Open Mike poetry readings at the Coffee Grounds. She also performs with the Crosley Radio Players, a group that performs classic radio shows.