‘Epitaphs...’
Jackson ARN
1.
She spent her sixties
buying beer and schnapps
she never drank.
Grandkids she never knew
drink from her
credenza
2.
Her students loved her
when they remembered her
saw a tall blonde mother
who’d never been
and heard an easy humming voice
not hers
3.
Her jacket was her closest friend
followed by her sister
It emphasized her freckles
and never teased her
4.
One sunny day we found him
rolling on the lawn
one half of him muddy
the other impressively tan
5.
He wore his hair short
when he was younger. As an old man,
he’d rub his head expecting
the old ‘do
restored
and, finding nothing,
resumed his cereal-eating
unperturbed
6.
We stepped over what was left and found
a bowl of headless matches
Jackson ARN’s writing has appeared in 3:AM Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of
Books, Asymptote, and other publications. He lives in Brooklyn.