Member Poem

There was just a second this afternoon
when I forgot he was gone
not euphemistically
gone
actually dead, ashes in a clay jar
holding up one side of paperbacks, Tolkien, Heinlein, Bradbury
We were going to spread these remains in
the backyard but
what if one day we moved house
the yard
and its ashes would be lost
to us.
 
The new owners would dig up the
vegetation—
 
herbs, berries, honeysuckle
now returning on their own
each season
 
—to build an in-ground pool.
 
Even if we stayed for always
ashes blow away in wind
wash away with rain
 
Maybe if I dug a grave
under a tree
planted sunflowers and ashes
we would always be able
to find him.
 
I could stop by for a chat
Borrow a book
or talk him into a chess game.
Not now I’m busy maybe later
it would be like old times.