Swallows careen to cracker crumbs
Left lying near the narcissi.
Whilst a dead friend visits the bedroom
Sitting in a corner
In a perpetual shadow
Rolled up on a death notice
Ripped from the town crier’s board.
Has Hellas come to call us
Back to everlasting realms?
The Death Notice
O Anuncio de Morte
I am turning into an old man.
While my mind runs 100 miles an hour,
I am learning my body just cannot keep up anymore.
I find myself walking the streets in my pijamas and slippers and with my dog.
We stop and sit and just watch life go by.
We watch people move … living their fast and slow lives.
We see everything!
The strangest observation that I have learned to observe is the man with the paper notes in hand.
The church bells ring daily,
Not just announcing the hour of the day but these bells from the church ring different.
They are the bells of a person that has passed onto the next life.
Then, the next day, I see the man with the paper notes in his hand.
O Anuncio de Morte. The Death Notice.
He walks around the village posting notices of the people that passed their lives into the next world.
One day, I hope to see from above, the man walk and post my notice on the store front announcing about the life that I lived.
However, I feel I will not ever die.
Or maybe I am already dead because I live in paradise.
Life is beautiful but I still want to see my notice on the cafe window!
~ Pauly G
ALZHEIMER'S LETTER
DEAR WHOEVER YOU ARE,
WHAT DID I SAY MY NAME IS ? I REALLY DO FORGET.
I'VE JUST ASKED YOU A QUESTION. OR HAVE I ASKED YOU YET?
I'VE NEARLY LOST MY MEMORY. MY MIND IS FULL OF DOUBT.
I'VE HAD A CONVERSATION, BUT WHAT WAS IT ABOUT?
NOW IM HITTING 85 OR IS IT 58?
AM I FEELING POORLY ? OR AM I FEELING GREAT?
WHY IS THIS SOCK SO BLOOMING BIG ? WHATS THE USE IN THAT?
WHAT IS THIS THING ON MY FOOT ? IT'S JUST MY WOOLY HAT.
I WENT OUT WITH THE RUBBISH, TO PUT IN IN THE BIN.
WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING ? I TOOK IT RIGHT BACK IN.
SOMETIMES I GET SILLY, I FEEL LIKE SUCH A CLOWN.
I PUT MY TEETH INSIDE MY MOUTH BUT NOW THERE UPSIDOWN.
SOMETIMES MY BRAIN IS FUZZY. I'M MIXED UP IN MY HEAD.
I'M CHECKING THE DEATH NOTICE, TO SEE IF I AM DEAD.
IF YOU DO NOT GET THIS LETTER, PLEASE WRITE AND LET ME KNOW.
IF I FORGET TO POST IT, IT MIGHT FORGET TO GO.
LOVE ALWAYS, YOU FOREVER FRIEND,
WHOEVER I AM ***
BY SHIRLEY MOODY
“In lieu of flowers, make donation
To your favorite charity”.
This was written very plainly
In death notice for our mother.
We knew that she dearly loved them
And her passion was her garden.
She shared flowers with her loved ones,
With her neighbors and her friends.
I was glad to see the chapel filled
With bright blossoms in profusion.
It was if spring had come early
On this day in January.
Mama, will you please forgive us
That we didn’t mind your wishes?
We remember you surrounded by
The beauty of your garden.
We couldn’t bear to bury you
Without your beloved flowers.
“For the poor is always with us”,
But our mama's gone away.
By:Joyce Johnson 1/26/2011 6th place
For Francine Roberts' contest "Flowers"
For hundreds of years you've
manage to stir up hearts and
make them flutter and fall in love.
Yes, even when we where willing
to walk away from the hurt? You somehow
made us want to stay anyway...You aimed your
arrow and somehow found the bulls eye on our hearts
with your message of love. Too much
for one person to bear...with your encrypted
message you have inscrolled upon our
hearts that make us stare like a silly little
puppy dogs in a window display. Damn, you
you Cupid! Oh, how I would like to purge my
soul of your relentless pursuit of this thing called love!
This is my final notice to you Cupid! Keep thee out of the
matters of my heart, unless you wish to feel the tip of your
very on own love arrow pierce the inner sanctums your very own heart!
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.