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Chrystos has an interesting use of space in this poem. Use it as a long pause when
you read aloud.
Grandma we all need
partially deaf & busy with weaving
I'm Making You Up
by Chrystos
FOR BETH BRYANT
listens
nods while I cry about everything they did to me
how horrible & can't stand another
I'm simply
1
4
while brown wrinkled you smile at me like sun coming up
pass wool absently
I stand next to you
you lay aside the wrong colors without comment
Grandchild
2
babbling
I sit in your lap
your sympathy warm & comforting as dust
your loom pushed aside
you feed me fry bread with too much maple syrup
I pull your braids you cradle me deeper in
your legs folded to make a basket for me
Grandma
Reflection
3
through a thick blanket of years & sore feet
who died long before I was born
Come Back
Come Back
Identify the narrator of this poem.
Identify the audience of this poem.
Explain the seeming paradox of these lines
Grandma
who died long before I was born
Come Back
Come Back
Comment on the style of this poem.