Category: Death & Afterlife
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heirloom flowers
He wrote that summers he hayed the fields with his grandfather, walked the woods, looked for blackberries to pick, careful not to step in old root cellars, watched for hollyhocks that foreshadowed ruins of a farmhouse where a long dead farmer’s wife planted flowers by the door, while her long dead husband worked the fields…
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Feels
to get out of your head you go out you get in your feels and leave early sadness is contagious why infect others? 8-9-25
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Epsom salts
Sitting on the porch scalding my feet in Epsom salts. Rocking back and forth in an old chair. Lamenting the sacrifice of the tree. Wondering what other pieces were torn from its corpse. Does it mourn the loss of siblings living in other homes or that fell off the dock at the furniture store. Sitting…
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Elegy for a cockroach
A cockroach lies dead behind my chair on the porch. I do not mourn its passing. It is one of those large ones that reside in the South among dead leaves under the bark of trees, on your porch. They do not respect privacy or care for cleanliness. If they can cohabitate and live with…
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Cattail tales
dragonfly swoops gathers mosquitos in its maw other mosquitos oblivious death passed them by 7-3-25
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Fractures of light
sometimes, I look at your picture and see fractures of light streaming through 6-24-25
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Long distance call
Hi Mom, talk louder our connection is weak. I hear Dad in the background put him on speaker. Jasmine was telling us the other day that she missed coming to visit you. Has she stopped by yet? When she does, give her a hug and tell her we love her. She left before we got…
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Loving a rescue dog
Love lived in dog years ends Before you are ready for it to end So you foster another dog Try to break bad habits Their previous owners couldn’t You use a kennel, put them on a diet and Maybe it works But still, love lived in dog years ends Before you are ready for it…
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Locked knees
When our father died Masonic members of the Scottish Rite came and performed final rites at his viewing. They marched to and fro in their regalia, spoke sacred vows before his open casket. The next morning, before his last ride, his preacher preached a sermon. A military detail came to the gravesite, performed a twenty-one…
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Inevitably
Do not talk to me of fear of death for it comes inevitably It gathers us up and leaves us on a strange porch Orphans in a basket waiting to be welcomed into another home I do not dread its coming I leave my door ajar Ready for this new adventure I hope I’ve packed…
My husband's poetry 