Elegy Poem: Grandma by Kaleb Moriarty

I can’t squeeze my eyes shut when I think about
The open casket
It grabs my eyelashes like the reigns of a horse
I try to blink onto sandpaper
And sleep on a bed of nails
Or in the world; warm that I remember you in
It’s 3 o clock P.M. and I can have the windows cracked.
I haven’t perfected the art of counting tiles on a hospital floor yet
Or telling myself you look like you did when you weren’t motionless
Pretending like I’m comfortable eating from a
Meat tray in a funeral home
Or trying not to think about how you waited for me
To walk into the hospital room
before you flatlined.
Your face looks funny stretched across a memorial candle
That we don’t burn, but leave stagnant on a dusty shelf
Sometimes I look up your obituary to convince myself
It’s purple in my search history
-KM

Author: poetryfest

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