They like to tell you
on TV
about their grief:
dramatic renderings
of their reactions
a symphony of self-indulgence
“I heard the news and I screamed
I cried
I just broke down sobbing
I was screaming
so loud, I was
I
I
I”
I am standing in the grocery store
silent
I lost that part of my voice and I am
trying
to keep my legs and I can’t
breathe
because the cereal he ate
when I was small is gone
They don’t have it anymore,
this artifact of him
and I see him in the Special K, the Lucky Charms, the Froot Loops
I see him lying there with no heartbeat and no teeth
I see the vacancy like a spotlight and there is no air left
for screaming sobbing crying
for walking past the void
and into life.
