Category: grief
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Gibson’s war
After the war, After bodies were cleared, Mass graves dug up, Photographed and catalogued. After the rubble was pushed aside, and reconstruction begun, You found an abandoned instrument with broken strings. Because this was all you could handle and it did not stink of death, You thought of all the songs it had sung Cradled…
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Goodbye to a friend
morphine drip prescribed soul flashes light in the dark outside I sit train wails goodbye 5-11-22
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poem for a friend
If you don’t die first grief will follow you Today, you think the lucky go first Tomorrow, you may think the lucky go last Either way death follows us all Turn around and embrace it 9-6-21
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for Nick Vulpi
Today, we drove to mile marker 99; nothing special to see; Nothing says that last week a visitor from Canada Stopped to offer help to a young man we knew as boy What did he say and what was the reply? Simple words of kindness shared, lost in the gore Of another drunk behind the…
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old photo
Tonight, I saw a picture of the last time we sat and talked We did not know it was our last time and that soon I’d race through the night across six states to listen to last breaths If we knew it was our last time would you have consented to a hug _____ We…
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no anesthesia
Spiraled black-speckled flypaper waves in the wind from the porch For family summer picnic fun on the farm flies trapped in glue, struggle till they die Chickens, a pig and a cow are slaughtered deviled eggs, tomatoes and green beans prepared Rocky mountain oysters sit fried in a bowl on the table Harvested from ball…
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hand-made chocolate shakes
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by
For the surgical nurse who I worked with when I was drafted I remember sneaking out the service door in the alley behind the hospital Jogging to an ice cream shop for hand-made chocolate shakes while you stood guard at the door We would sit in the nurses’ lounge – you would tell me your…
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Pandemic Meditation on the Second Anniversary of My Mother’s Passing
1) This morning On the second anniversary Of my mother’s passing I listened to birds in trees While contemplating how hard It must be to not be allowed to sit With love ones who are dying Breathing out this damned virus In vapors of last breaths 2) I remember how my sister texted That mom…
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a monk on fire (for John Prine)
because I heard he may be dying I listened to hours of John Prine before I went to bed My wife peeked her head in my office told me an owl was hooting in a tree I never understood a hooting owl why they warned the night they would be up and hunting my Uncle…
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Hiding to be found
She ran away left a husband and two boys Said nothing, didn’t leave a note She called her parents’ house once asked to talk with her dad Her mother cussed her out and said don’t call again Her brother’s seen her a couple times she asked about her dad and sons She didn’t make her…
My husband's poetry 