Let’s Have a Funeral For Each Other

Build wooden boats
small enough to hold
in hands and kiss goodbye.
Pile these pyres high
with pictures, boarding passes, old
receipts crumpled in pants pockets,
and gum wrappers found
on car floors. At exact sunset,
on the last day of the year,
we will exhale incantations,
whisper every curse we know
as we strike our matches,
cast the boats into water
and watch them burn.
As flames dance into distance,
we will erase messages, delete
numbers, swear each other’s name
for only reverent conversations
about the dearly departed.
When the last ember crumbles
to ash, we will wade
into water too.

Kate Wright received a BA and MA in English from Penn State University. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Columbia College Literary Review, Cold Creek Review, Buck Off Magazine, Rust + Moth, and elsewhere. Find her on Twitter @KateWrightPoet