keeping the dead

how, then, shall we keep the dead?lower you into the ground sealedin a leaden box, or washed andwrapped in a simple linen shroud,covered with dirt and stone?stack you high in concretecities of the dead, or lay you undersacred mounds that rise above the plains?shall we let you join the ancient natural

cycle of decay, or donate you to

modern science? wrap you in a muslin sail

and slip you into the sea?

burn you? scatter what remains

into the wind? or keep it in our homes?

shall we let you keep (or give you)

money / trinkets / weapons for some next life?

tell me, dead: after the last breath, the last

pulse, the last electric crackle through the nerves–

how, then, shall I keep you?

how do I let you go?

poem and photograph (c) 2017 D. Ohlandt

please only reprint in entirety and with credit given

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