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 What Death Caused Her

 

by Derek Ellwood

 

Her mouth was like a vase

Accepting anything that was put into it

The similarities ending there as none

Of the things that entered her were

Ever beautiful

The hair between her legs was

Meticulously trimmed

Likely the only thing about herself 

She ever took care of

Tattoo on the inside of her bruised 

Wrist read “I heart Mom”

A love that had been there a

Long time

Now both faded with time

I imagined her phoning home from

An old dilapidated phone booth like

The one her crumpled body was

Found in

A mother’s hello going unanswered

A lost child just wanting to hear

Her voice before placing the

Receiver gently back into its

Cradle

The same way her mother

Probably placed her when she

Was a infant

Investigating for an identity

I found none

The only possession a well

Worn journal belonging to an 

Older brother perhaps

The last two entries reading:

 

I think I’ve been on 

This shit too long

Drooling into my bedroom 

Lawn

 

In loving memory of my dear brother

 

Go rest high upon that mountain

Your work on earth is done

 

 

Now she lay on a cold metal sheet

Like a large baking tray

Readied to be slid back into

An ice cold oven

Naked skin a blueish grey

Distorting all beauty

To her still open eyes I wanted

To say something hoping a whisper

In tenderness may deliver her spirit

Somewhere safe

Would that have been my place

Would that unanswered mother

Wanted me to?

 

 

Spring 2022

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