A May Wake

is a half-step from a tailgate party; is veggie platters; is full Marine
Corps regalia with starry-eyes dripping all over it; is sneaking to the
parking lot off the side to have a smoke and a beer because someone
packed; is comparing regional prices of cigarettes; is a loss; is a
celebration; is a family dinner, family-style; is at least eight hours
long; is Smek & Sons on Cermak; is not necessarily in the month of
May—in fact, rarely is; is usually in late summer; is recounting the
story of the potato peeler to the forehead at least one more time; is
passing around fresh babies; is harassment about absent maternity;
is horseplay; is catching up; is rows of hard backed, hardwood pews
with one smooth arm rest at each end; is watching a casket walk out
the back door; is one last drive through Berwyn or Cicero; is
headlights in the middle of the day; is car after car after car after car;
is the short black curtain pulled tight to cover the view of the casket.

Mandy May is a Baltimore MD based writer and designer. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore in and is currently working toward her Doctorate in Interaction and Information Design. She is the author of the poetry chapbook Magic: Moon Tides Sing Violet Petals (Babe Press) and co-curated Nasty: an anthology celebrating dark spirits (Babe Press). She believes in ghosts, magic, and the splendor of a body failing. She has three cats.