Horrorthon Banner © TJ Edson

 

there are people who take pictures at funerals

not the ones
who have the condition
that makes them laugh
at inappropriate times

these are for safe keeping,
to scratch
at things they can’t change,
to remember to forget

awake is to being alive
as asleep is to being

dead keeps us holding
to life, insignificant memory
they want those pictures
to breathe but they’re left

in houses that can’t stand
next to paneless windows
curling into floorboards

so lost so vacant I know
there are people
who live and don’t want
this to be the last thing

anyone remembers

 

Kaci Skiles Laws is a closet cat-lady and creative writer who reads and writes voraciously in the quiet moments between motherhood and managing Crohn’s Disease. She grew up on a small farm in a Texas town alongside many furry friends, two sisters, and a brother. She has known tragic loss too well, and her writing is a reflection of the shadows lurking in her psyche. Her work can be viewed at: https://kaciskileslawswriter.wordpress.com/