Conversations
a day of grieving, 1/22/94
VII
there has been a lot of
death
in my family
my brother died
when he was three
i was seven
his appendix exploded
they operated
then they realized
a sponge was missing
it was inside of him
they gave him
some extra penicillin
opened him up again
there was an infection
they removed
the sponge
closed him up
gave him more
penicillin
but they didn’t know
he was allergic
he died within two weeks
my other brother
overdosed on drugs
when he was twenty-seven
i was twenty-six
then a year ago
my son died
he was hit by a car
he was thirteen
at my brother’s funerals
everyone ended up
going to a restaurant