“Transitoriness” © Thomas Riesner

 

A Death in the Family

          An old man awoke in the morning to discover that
half of his body had died in his sleep. Wrestling from under
its dead weight he sat upright and wept from his one living
eye into his one living hand. When he had gathered his
remaining wits he placed the telephone against his living ear
and dialed his friends and family. “I’m sorry to call under
these circumstances,” he said. “But there’s been a death in
the family.” After he called everyone in his rolodex, he made
burial arrangements and reluctantly, and rather slowly,
started packing up the belongings of his dead half. The
funeral took place on a rainy Sunday. He dressed himself and
his dead half in his finest suit. A shallow grave was made in
which he lay down on his dead side. Dirt was then
compacted around him before a headstone which read Here
Lies Half of an Old Man. It was a lovely ceremony. He
wished so much that his dead half could have been there to
see all those in attendance and to hear all the kindly
sentiments: his brother Melvin who thoughtfully
remembered high-fiving the old man’s dead hand during
sporting events, his best friend Gary who had been there
when the old man broke his dead leg during an unforgettable
night in Vegas, and even his ex-girlfriend Gloria who fondly
and rather whimsically recalled how much the old man loved
when she placed his dead hand upon her breast and gently
nibbled the lobe of his dead ear.

 

Joseph Cooper is the author of several books of poetry including Porlock (Spuyten Duyvil 2015). His first novel, Talk Like Jazz, was published by Weasel Press in 2019. His next poetry collection, entitled Splash Fields, was released this year by Vegetarian Alcoholic Press.

Thomas Riesner: “I was born in Leipzig,Germany in 1971 and I still live here today. Already in elementary school I often painted “abstract” instead of the given concrete drawing. I later retained this style or changed it to “abstract figuration ” I painted a lot at home, always without professional guidance. I didn’t have any specific role models. When I start a picture, I only have a certain idea, but often something completely different emerges. I would describe myself as an outsiderart artist.”