Easter ’57

Easter ‘57

is scribbled on the back 

of a torn black and white—

her Sunday dress blown by 

a breeze, his face caught  

between a squint and a stare. 

My mom was ten then. 

In a few years the farm

they labored hard for would

fail, the cows would be sold 

and a house in town bought.

Her mother would fall sick

and her dad grow weary. 

Thirty years later, we 

headed down south to find 

their gravestone, like their farm,

well-tended and tidy. 

The house in town was lost 

to wild weeds and decay. 

Mom once told me she saw

her dad in my brother—

both dark-haired and lanky. 

And me—I don’t have much 

else but a few stories 

and my love for a black 

and white of two people 

standing straight and tall on 

a sunny, windy day 

of Easter ’57. 

I started writing this poem when I was in my late teens. My mother’s parents died before I could ever know them. This poem has been worked and reworked over the years, and most recently I think I have found its “sweet spot.” With this poem completed in my mind, I hope to write more about the mystery of my extended family on my mom’s side of the family and my dad’s side of the family. I have many photos but not enough stories, and this causes many questions and thoughts on family and identity. 

Featured image is courtesy of Annie Spratt via Unsplash. We are grateful for her generosity.

Leslie Bustard

Leslie Anne Bustard takes great joy in loving people and places, whether at church, around her kitchen table, in a classroom, or traveling around. She delights in words, and marvels at the beauty found in the details of ordinary life. Reading, writing, teaching literature, baking, producing high school theater, and museum-ing are some of Leslie’s favorite things.  Leslie is the host of The Square Halo, a podcast for Square Halo Books  and is developing a book titled Wild Things and Castles in the Sky: A Guide to the Best Children’s Books. She and her husband Ned have been married for 30 years and live in a century-old row house in Lancaster City, where they raised their three daughters.

www.squarehalobooks.com/