Arrange communication, over.
Roger, Out.
Inform the Chain of Command
Contact the Chaplain
Execute a satellite uplink
Notify the next of kin
Start the phone tree
Make the arrangements
Honor the deceased
Comfort the family
Pray for the soul

Sister wants the jewels
Brother eyes the deed to the house
Aunt Jan covets Grandma’s wedding ring,
She has for years.
Uncle Ted asks about the furnishings.
Casually.

Like carrion beetles we swarm
seeking the juiciest bits for ourselves.
Masking avarice with feigned grief

He is a bookworm humming marching tunes with a caribou.
They smell the sky, hear the sand, see the bright red light with their tongues.
Ed Ed the Knucklehead hides his hands in Ottawa.
Ed never hid his hands, he revealed them for all to see.
Splish-Splash, Splish-Splash, his webbed feet slap the tiled floor,tasting, tasting, tasting.
Walking, walking, walking
The foul-smelling wall of hunger screams empty codes at the freezing sun.
"Calculus," whispers Ed, "I want more Calculus."
The math will sneak by, he will feel its shadow; but not yet.
Sour triangles whirling openly greet the visitors.
Powerfully they mask their entrance embracing fraudulent identities.
The caribou now speaks his truth, "Ani rotzeh tachtonim."
Blindly the door opens and reveals all that the caribou desires stripes, rainbows, little flowers.
Down the long pathway to nowhere.

Last night I dreamed

I dreamed of Kiki playing in the driveway.
I dreamed a beach ball and a jump rope.
I dreamed a smile and love.

I dreamed a slow moving car
Guns pointed out tinted windows
I dreamed shooting, POP POP POP
I dreamed tires squealing
And blood.
So much blood.

I dreamed the life leaving Kiki's body
next to the beach ball and the jump rope.

I dreamed of three boys begging for mercy

When I dreamed none,
I dreamed of Kiki's smile once again.

I taste the hot dry air as the wind blows through the ravine.

I taste the smoky, spicy richness of meat cooked over an open flame.

I taste the sticky sweetness of a large Coke with ice.

Though my eyes cannot see the game,

my taste buds tell me that I'm at Dodger Stadium,
                    
and I smile.

Colorful, tasty
Sticky swirls, canes, and powders
Make the tongue delight.

Ambulance, paramedics
Diabetic coma; sigh