My Birth and Departure * Options

[jerryk]

My Birth and Departure

A miracle marked the day of my birth.
I was told a stork delivered me, and
my mother had suffered severe beak
strikes about the upper thighs, deep enough
to draw blood and other liquids. Oh--
the dirty bird also dropped placenta
which, in later years, followed me
in form of hostile poetry critics.

Four years later, I found myself living
in the shadow of my younger brother;
he’d sprung from a watermelon seed.
The event rivaled that of the immaculate
conception and virgin birth . . . .

But on to the present: I have made funeral
arrangements. This is the plan:
Arrival at the crematorium. The family
will remember my heroic life to a recording
of Beethoven’s Eroica symphony.

Then--on to the conveyor, accompanied
by the marcia funebre, its dissonant horns
signaling my impending transformation.
I’ll fit into a cookie jar.

Whoever, whatever awaits me at the end
of that journey--better watch out.
I won’t be in any mood to be trifled with;
the wasteful family insists on burning
expensive slumber lumber. A coffin?
For Pete’s sake!
No definite date has been set.

[Maureen]

Well I am glad you are going to be here a while longer Jerry and I admire your neat and tidy plans for the future. The cookie jar is a great idea. Of course you can make prior arrangements to avoid the wasteful burning of timber by insisting that only a wooden shell be used and that you yourself actually rest recumbent in a more enviromentaly friendly cardboard container made from recycled material. Families as we know can be right pains about things like this but hey it's your journey, you should be able to dictate the transport arrangements. I was only saying just before that this months edition of The Australia Times Poetry magazine did not have any poems in it from MM poets. Perhaps you might consider rectifying that before you go I see you have no definite departure plans as yet - so you have time.

I like your quirky humour and your poem - seems a shame to not share it around

Cheers

Maureen

[jerryk]

Well I am glad you are going to be here a while longer Jerry and I admire your neat and tidy plans for the future. The cookie jar is a great idea. Of course you can make prior arrangements to avoid the wasteful burning of timber by insisting that only a wooden shell be used and that you yourself actually rest recumbent in a more enviromentaly friendly cardboard container made from recycled material. Families as we know can be right pains about things like this but hey it's your journey, you should be able to dictate the transport arrangements. I was only saying just before that this months edition of The Australia Times Poetry magazine did not have any poems in it from MM poets. Perhaps you might consider rectifying that before you go I see you have no definite departure plans as yet - so you have time.

I like your quirky humour and your poem - seems a shame to not share it around

Cheers

Maureen

Hi there, Maureen;
it's settled then; an Odie's cookie jar it is. After sober reflection, the greedier members of my family agreed not to waste a mahogany coffin on little old me. You don't suppose my exit to the sound of dissonant horns might move family and friends to tears? I'm just kidding; I have the greatest family. Speaking of humor: that subject seems to be poetry's stepchild, and I fail to understand why this should be so; except that what strikes one person as funny might leave all others rolling their eyes. Anyhow, I've been unaware of The Australia Times Poetry until now. It isn't that I'm dying for recognition . . . . However, it's good to know that my verses amused you.
Thank you, Maureen.
Jerry

[Eisa]

You have a great sense of humour, Jerry! I enjoyed this immensely (as I do all your poems.)

I often wonder whether I should plan my own funeral as I feel it can be such a stressful time for family. When my mother passed and I went to the florist to choose some flowers, they told me of someone who had chosen her flowers long before the event and they'd made a display of silk flowers for her which would easily last until needed. Interesting!

Talking of your birth, my mother told me she found me picking apples! Ha!

Snow

Keep 'em coming Jerry - I look forward to reading them

[jerryk]

You have a great sense of humour, Jerry! I enjoyed this immensely (as I do all your poems.)

I often wonder whether I should plan my own funeral as I feel it can be such a stressful time for family. When my mother passed and I went to the florist to choose some flowers, they told me of someone who had chosen her flowers long before the event and they'd made a display of silk flowers for her which would easily last until needed. Interesting!

Talking of your birth, my mother told me she found me picking apples! Ha!

Snow

Keep 'em coming Jerry - I look forward to reading them

Hi Snow,
oh such stories mothers used to tell their exquisite children, but all that has passed. Kid's are too smart these days, and in many instances, moms allow their older children to observe the miracle of birth--something that's totally against my grain. But to each his own. On the subject death?
"Many die too late, and a few die too early. Die at the right time," thus teaches Zarathustra," lol, and who am I to argue that philosophy. I wonder about preselecting my own funeral flowers . . . would you really smell the daisies? Naw; just surprise me.
I'm glad you came about to read my latest write; I'd begun to feel like the proverbial standup comedian without an audience. Well, somebody has got to keep the stage lights lit, right?
Thanks, Snow. Have a good day,
Jerry