Stone Soup Servings is a regular series for Oddball Magazine that features upcoming performers at Stone Soup Poetry, the long-running spoken word venue in the Boston area that has recently partnered with Oddball Magazine. Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m.

On April 7, we will be featuring Oddball Magazine’s very own Editor, Jason Wright. Jason already has a variety of work online here for you to sample, including his thriving Jagged Thoughts column (now on its 20th week), but today we offer you a never before seen piece from a manuscript in the works.

 

Grace on the Train

Here the musicians as they play in key
A quiet lady sips coffee, reading her book trying
not to be bothered.

She’s worried about her daughter in the hospital.
We see her, and she doesn’t see quite yet,
She’s never been respected and loved quite right.

She lost her husband to a Cancer Call.
And now she sits quietly listening, humming softly
to the rhythm.

Her sons in prison and she misses him.

Sipping her tea, I see her.
She seems like her name maybe Grace,
The only softness she maintained are the lines on her face
above her brow,
Wondering how far is home, and how she wants to go home now.

Grace won’t you stay awhile, and let us see your smile.

Hopefully the music overwhelms her and she forgets
about her world.

I look up from my daydream, already at Downtown Crossing
In the middle of Boston, and I feel awesome.
And I want Grace to feel the same.

I’m sure Grace is not her name.
She sits quietly on the train, not speaking to me,
or speaking at all.
I imagine her wondering when she can come home,
And why life has to be so hard.

And I guess life gives you a set of five cards, to start with,
I don’t think she’s ever won a hand, never made no chips
Her husband was one, wounded in Vietnam,

Lost his leg, with the napalm and shrapnel,
up and down his back and blood vessels.

They had two lovely kids, and that’s the second
and third card she dealt herself and
after her husband’s death in 1996, she never could forgive
and realized life can leave you so quick.

That was 96. Her son was 18. Her daughter was 12.
Now those 3 cards she was dealt, one was a King, a Jack, and a Queen.
The last card she gave herself became an Ace, when she won first place
in the rat race.
All she needed for those cards to matter,
was for her kids to love her, and take care of her.

After, dad died, and the family cried, and Lucy got her license,
Jack got caught up in the violence of a bitter bet, one that couldn’t be forgotten
Lost in gunshots, now his friend is in a coffin, and Jack sits in prison waiting for the warden.

As for Lucy, she always was smart, good in school. Varsity jacket on her shoulders,
But sometimes life takes over, and this time, it wasn’t expected,
The car blindsided her brand new Lexus.

She fell to the ground, glass all around,
The sound of sirens
And she’s in the hospital now, and Grace,
doesn’t know yet, as she listens to the music
waiting for the Red line,
while the sad street performer plays

You are my Sunshine,
My only Sunshine,

And she starts to cry, tears fall down her face
As she gets the call, and heads for MGH

Grace

You are my Sunshine,
My only Sunshine,

Grace.
You’ll be ok someday,
The sun shines a second time
Listen to the music,
And she taps her feet, and hums softly

You are my sunshine, you make me happy
when times are gray.

And she covers her head and exits the train into the rain

Trying to find peace in all her pain.