GRIEF Poem: To a Friend Opening a Crematorium Bill, by Koren Zailckas
New Releases
•
1m 27s
Performed by Val Cole
-----
POEM:
To A Friend Opening a Crematorium Bill
“It turns out, it’s expensive to die,”
You say.
And I picture you,
half in shadow,
reading price lists like hymns,
offering fire as mercy
to your wife,
who can no longer afford
to lie still in peace.
They’ve monetized the exit,
stitched barcodes to grief—
a surcharge for silence,
a fee for the ash’s release.
Even absence, it seems,
must earn its keep.
After the birth of each of my children,
I was astonished to be handed an invoice.
There was my swaddled daughter,
and myself, split and weeping,
and someone, clipboard in hand,
asking for a credit card
To secure our private room.
What isn’t for sale?
Time? Space? A body?
When people come or go,
that ought to be transaction enough.
Up Next in New Releases
-
EROTICA Poem: Big Yellow Taxi, by Cyn...
Performed by Val Cole
-----
BIG YELLOW TAXI
What you do to me is expensive to my body and
brain, like going on a shopping spree and then
not being able to pay for it Turning and
turning on my pillow until I just can’t
turn anymore and morning comes
too quickly. Are these bags under
my eyes wor... -
POLITICAL Poem: aGREED ruiNATION, by ...
Adriane P. Reesey
aGREED RuiNATION
contracts signed in clean rooms
ink dries while something else erodes
buildings rise as the footing gives
doors open for some, close on others
numbers climb while something fails -
Magical Realism Short Story: LIFE’S M...
An overwhelmed professional flees her rigid routine for the sanctuary of a park, only to be drawn into a surreal, time-bending world where she must confront her subconscious to reclaim her authentic voice
Performed by Val Cole
-----
Get to know the writer:
1. What is your short story about?...
