ANNIVERSARY Comments

The edge of a closed grave
is easier to stand by

the edge of a settled grave
is easier still

there are flowers,
a potted evergreen,
marble chippings that glint
charmingly in the sun

look death, are you pleased
at how pretty we have made you?

do you like this calmness?

and I see down
past the marble chippings,
the layer of weed suppressant,
the sod, the clay, the sharp
flints of pencil, the wood,
the satin lining

to where she is,

becoming bone,

mother, do you like this calmness?

do you like these yellow petals I hold
up here in a world that never loved you enough,
the world you would never
allow to love you enough

I slip through the V in the wall

earth, be kind to my mother
earth, hold her gently
...
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