grudges

her family,
could hold grudges
for decades.
they would go
stone cold
towards one another
despite living
in the same
neighborhoods,
attending
the same churches
and schools,
the aunts and
uncles would
find ways to avoid
one another.
funerals, weddings,
birthdays
were neutral grounds,
but the art of
ignorning one
another never
stopped. sisters
against sisters,
brother versus
brother. the point
of disagreement
long since lost
in the falling
leaves of months
and years. only
death seemed to
warm things up
once again, but just
ever so slightly.