dying and a'burying

estate planning Sept. 5/02

in his forties he determined
to arrange the service for a Friday so not to interfere
with the weekend plans of others.
this resulted in vexing questions about whether some nameless
clerk would, or would not, require an autopsy and thus
completely undo his plan.

in his fifties with most of his family and friends retired,
his preference became a Saturday wake,
with the appealing notion
of Sunday afternoon at the graveside
in a raging gale of hangover.
this, unfortunately
was in real conflict with his desire to bathe
the funeral assembly in the River Jordan of bluegrass gospel,
...or maybe not.




the funeral Sept. 5/02

each funeral marks and measures some great loss
as loss always is.
(in that respect)
his was no different.

the circumstances surrounding the passing colour
the conversation.
how good he looks despite the last days,
(or)
how terrible the accident, what a shock it must have been.

underneath it all it was,
(a shock)
for two women he loved.
that he’d had such an affair, and that it wasn’t with her.





the auction Sept. 5/02

with no known children to haul memories away in
station wagons and vans, he was increasingly confident
that years later, people would still remark
how great an auction it was.