Family Tree

by Danielle Thorne

I hated my uncle
For murdering the mimosa
Behind his mother’s house.
The timeless woman
Glued Victorian ladies
To pink tile walls,
While I fantasized
That momma wasn’t a Yankee
And we weren’t garbage
Daddy brought back
To her mountains.

Danielle Thorne was raised in Waynesville, North Carolina, and later Tennessee. She graduated from BYU-Idaho in 1990 and then returned to the South. She has published poetry and freelance articles, both online and in print. Currently she writes poetry and short fiction from her home in Memphis, while marketing her first Appalachian children’s novel, Oh, Danny Boy!