Monday, January 9, 2023

poem

Final Arrangements

This older couple was telling

Me about how they had already

Purchased their cemetery plot 


Successful people, educated,

Had paid off all their loans 

Pillars of some sub-average community


Don't get me wrong:

It’s the right thing to do

An act of dispassionate probity


Sparing mourning children

The undignified task

Of final arrangements 


But I’ve already decided

It’s cremation for me; no one’s

Putting my corpse in the wet ground. 


Being similarly disposed 

Toward responsible stewardship

I know it’s time for me to pick a fire 


Nothing too garishly infernal 

A simple blaze with licking flames

Hot enough to ash my bones


1/9/23


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