GRIEF Poem: Someone’s Life, by Tracy Johnson

Did you hear?
It was in the papers
The parents, grandparents,
Single parents, adoptive parents,
foster parents, street parents
Showed up at the morgue, looking

The papers said
They found her face down
In late December
Floating in an almost
frozen Potomac
Embalmed in icy loveliness
Such a pretty girl
Such a pretty face
Someone’s daughter
Someone’s wife
Someone’s mistress
Some child’s mother
Someone’s grandchild
Some aspiring actress
Some silent citizen
Some frightened immigrant
Thrown from a crate on a Baltimore dock
Someone’s neighbor without her hajib
Some dancer that hung on a pole
Some ambitious model or newscaster
Who went too far and said too much
Someone’s neighbor with two husbands
And one that was crazy

They all wanted to check birthmarks
On shoulders, on arms, on calves
On the left breast, the right hip
On someone missing
Someone loved.
Someone’s life.

Author: poetryfest

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