in memoriam


when you die
you will explain everything
in painstaking detail
accounting
for all the secrets you kept
hidden between
the floorboards
locked away in basement jars
with chloroform
there will be so much
to say about things
never considered
in conversations
aside from the usual
frustrations with sex, god
puerile documentation
of your childhood and
the ability to hate
anyone; the world shall inherit
a wealth of understanding
in those last days
while you make love to the
oxygen tank and lap
clear fluid from the intravenous
because you are afraid of needles,
in those last days
you will break
the ankles of death
you will chop off its head
and feed it to the wolves
then you will live as only a dead man may;
you will walk on land mines
you will breathe poison gas
you will leap from tall buildings
and survive,
impaling yourself on giant spears
but walking away
unimpressed
and laughing without cause:
imagine the glorious dreams
you have discovered through
this mass overdose of what you call life,
the stories and lessons
to be learned,
you just lie there silently
with hands folded over
your heart,
and wonder

why everyone’s last words
always linger in the air

and if the heavens
open up
for those who send a stunt-double
into church

while they’re
making an action movie
out of their lives.




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