Calling Your Name

Prose by Eadbhard McGowan

I never knew my grandfather,
never made his acquaintance
or felt his affection, his closeness.
I talk often to the dead,
try to share moments, explain my fears,
or to ask for their opinion.
 
I speak to them to make a connection.
Will they answer me from a distance?
Do they know my apprehension?
Hard to hear them in the noise
of this side’s distracting …