curses

grandfather married
into hectares and hectares of mixed forest
the same amount of arable land
a few orchards and vineyards
four horses
a dozen cows goats hens rabbits
a barn bigger than the house
and grandma was plump and healthy
ruddy as apples and overripe tomatoes

word around the village was she had not yet married
for she was a big mouth
not to let the estate go under
she first taught her husband
the things that bring the greatest evil
to kill a snake at the doorstep
or banish the gypsies
it can do no harm to be cautious not to clip nails
on fridays sundays and tuesdays

he soon took to drinking
grandma says he wasn’t wary
of putting his right foot first on the ground
and putting on the right shoe
he would leave early to catch a train to ironworks
and return in the dead of the night
always with a few miniatures of bitters
that soothed his growing ulcers
and grandma would cuss him out
for instead of the hundreds of liters
of homemade rakia
he drinks the store purchased ones

CURSES