This Death is Complete

A year back the phone imploded the silence 3:00 AM A trembling voice released Itself of words we knew would Be spoken In time Yet none would have confessed the thought Well…. Tense grey morning The family gathered pensive Surrounding the sterile intensive care bed His home for 39 days He lay Heaving artificial Needle bruised arms Pale yellow body Godforsaken Numb grief A gift bestowed Questions unformed Stroke his Corn silk hair Touch his nailess right thumb Courtesy of an ax When a boy At his beardless chin Shaven by necessity At his hula girl From the war Knowing she will dance no more At the goddamn tubes Thrust into holes Where none should be Soon suffering gives sway Two days hence morning early Threat of rain We drove the quiet mile Past the sanatorium The orange water tower The yellow house The old Bayless farm Up the winding gravel road To Gouffon’s Cemetery A rural small hilltop Place of rest Giant oak trees Green fertile pastures Blue distant mountains Standing near red dirt I recall Dad and I Pounding tomato stakes into the Compromising earth Laying out plots for the family On future Sunday outings when Visiting this sublime place of relatives pass Dad would often say as he smoked his Lucky Strike “Some day I will rest here…with your mother there beside me” Dad For a long while I could Envision you as you are even now 24 years later With mom’s wedding band on your little finger A pack of smokes and a half pint of Maker’s Mark Photographs of the family propped against the pale creamy silk To comfort you while you wait The first year Filled with dreams of you Assuring Gentle “Son…it’s all right…everything is fine here” Of you lying with plastic violating Chest stomach neck Not being able to speak Bleeding Asking me to kill you Now I giggle with fear and joy and Love as you swim the Little Sandy With my cheek meshed into the give Of your shoulder blade and My little arms and legs Grasping for dear life Around your flawless Impregnable Body

Request permission to use this poem

Explore

Hello PoetryVoting

Write