Heritage

Heritage seems as much about
Going as staying.

I'm from a vagrant line.
We don't waver in history
like muscled pioneers,
we drip
in, out of years and
leave our tree with missing branches.
Now I'm picking up sticks

and budding into
a foreign air like
a nipple
nosing out of a savvy bra.

It's a bit disappointing,
this forging ahead.
I like the thought of empty pockets
and rebellious daughters
on creaking battered ships;
maybe walking the plank,
maybe building a bank.

The coins in my pockets
collide, a tongue-less clatter
making good any lead to chase.

Regardless of doings,
I'm short on heroism -
Which I expect
will bore
spectacled academes
and great-grandchildren.