Artwork © Luis Lázaro Tijerina

 

Leonard Cohen Still Speaks To Me And I Feel Blessed

  Our dead have never left. Our dead are here with us, they’re in our
phones and tablets and laptops, they hide in screens and headphones, we carry
          them
along, not in our heart like in the past, we carry them along,
not metaphorically like in the past,
we hear their voice on the radio while we drive to work,
or at the grocery store, while picking lemons.

  We need not ghost stories about haunted houses, paranormal activity,
Wuthering Heights, lingering spirits, or broken souls who outlive
their bodies. The dead are here among us, we mourn them when they die, then
we hang out with them, they’re not just stories we’ve heard of, they’re not
vague memories, not even still drawings, or pictures, we hear them talk and
          sing,
we see them move and dance and act like living creatures, we see them
          breathe,
breathe, they haunt our rooms, our cars, our streets, we see them cry and laugh
          and hurt
and die and live again.

  Leonard Cohen still speaks to me, and Kurt Cobain and
Ian Curtis (and mom and dad), they’re in my room, they haunt me,
they soothe me, they sing to me, they dance for me, soft lullabies, loud
          unbearable
screams, they speak my thoughts, they speak to me and I feel blessed.

  Spare us the drama, the white-dressed figures, the rotting body parts.
Our dead are here, and we are blessed, they have done what they will have
ever done and they have said what they will ever say and they have hurt us as
          much
as they will ever have, but they will never, ever, disappoint, not ever, not
          again,

  (ghosts never do)

 

Mileva Anastasiadou is a neurologist, from Athens, Greece. A Pushcart, Best of the Net, Best Microfiction and Best Small Fictions nominated writer, her work can be found in many journals, such as New World Writing, Citron Review, Lost Balloon and others.

Luis Lázaro Tijerina was born in Salina, Kansas. Mr. Tijerina has a Master of Art degree in history, concentration being military history and diplomacy. He is a published author of military theory, short stories, essays and poetry. Mr. Tijerina resides in Vermont.