Tag: afterlife

on arriving unexpectedly at the pearly gates (20170528)

crow3 Comments

i try to turn and make my way back
the hands are firm on my shoulders
and pull me toward clouds like columns
drag me, really, but my feet
rip through the cool cumulus
like it’s cotton candy

i swat at the hands
but we pick up speed
soon we will be through
those gates
which will close irrevocably

i imagine all those people
i spent so much time avoiding
and now they’re all in there
my shirt is covered in sins
like stains from every
spaghetti dinner i ever ate

every misstep plain as day
written on me
written on my clothes
tattooed on my face
a small greek chorus rushes behind me
trying to keep up
strolling left to right to left
listing
listing
listing
everything i have ever done

i am convinced the same thing
happens in hell
but everyone there refuses to hide
their disappointment
but here they will make excuses for you
you won’t have to defend yourself
but the damn greek chorus
refuses to shut up
and my mouth fills with clouds

sighs and pretenses (20160814)

crow10 Comments

we complicate the afterlife
or simplify it
smoking shadows or blinding light
always some kind of
inflated vision

of unimaginable prosperity
like a costco with free samples
in every aisle
no lines at the registers
and they take whatever credit card
you have in your wallet

of utter misery
processing travel reimbursements
with unclear reasons for changes of flight
destinations not approved
and receipts so crumbled and faded
they may as well be ancient greek
palimpsest

as for me
i will take peace and quiet
some kind of eternal stillness
as long as i can get
netflix

——

for
The Daily Post
Daily Prompt: Complicated

the eternal hum (20160622)

crow12 Comments

everyone tells you
that after this life
there is another life

but no one warns you
that death waits
also for you there

and after that ending
there’s another
paler incarnation

again and again
each life more diluted
than the last
until you can’t tell yourself
apart from the sea of white noise

a revenger follows his hate
knife bloody from one life
to the next
so eager to re-enact he gladly
sheds his flesh and bones
until he and the despised

become one

and there are no more screams
only the emptiness
of the eternal hum

——

for
The Daily Post
Daily Prompt: Empty