“A Cautionary Tale” © Jury S. Judge

 

“remember me”

he kept old newspapers
believing they spoke to him,
he cut out obituaries and
hung them from the curtains,
believing he knew the dead,
believing they forgot to say goodbye,
believing it all meant something

from floor to ceiling
he had rows upon
rows of paper
lining his apartment,

he had no radio,
no tv, no microwave
just stacks and stacks of paper

and everywhere he went
he picked through trash,
collecting shreds and
scraps and torn bits
of paper he believed
to be valuable

when they found him
buried beneath his life’s work,
stuffed in his mouth was
a crumpled newspaper
with two words written
in black marker:
remember me

 

Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, zines, and online publications. He has published 15 chapbooks and 2 full length collections. He runs Between Shadows Press.

Jury S. Judge is an internationally published artist, writer, poet, and cartoonist. Her “Astronomy Comedy” cartoons are published in Lowell Observatory’s quarterly publication, The Lowell Observer. She has been interviewed on the television news program, “NAZ Today” for her work as a political cartoonist. She was also interviewed by Streetlight Magazine and The Antonym. Her artwork has been widely featured in over one hundred and thirty five literary magazines such as, Blue Mesa Review, Glass Mountain, New Plains Review, and 3 Elements Review. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 2014.