Crack in a smile

Centuries ago it was decided
that when our loved ones leave this world
their remains should be saved for posterity
so that we could later visit and feel
.

I can't explain the reasoning
the ancients had when the choice was made
to keep the dead eternally prepared as if
Sunday dinner was just a week away
.

Nor can I understand the outings,
the family trips to the park like setting which
has become the new abode for ones we once
held so close, those we wish hadn't moved so far away
.

We go bearing gifts of flowers and the like
all standing around gazing at a stone
knowing full well any conversation will be one sided
yet the wrought emotions supposedly help
.

Are we not becoming one with the rock itself
as our unmoving, carved features just stare
at the granite, their granite slab of a roof
that only helps us remember the feelings of loss
.

Perhaps we are secretly hoping, attempting
to forget the separation, wishing that our hearts
become hardened to the experienced pain, the weight,
much like each layer of developing shale does
.

Although I may not get it, I do it, like the elders
before me I also peer at the etched memorial
my secret hope however it that I will know when
to move on before the stoniness takes me completely

Want a piece of me?

Carlotta was crystalline; made
of assorted layers and coats,
a sharded shield of misguided protection

One day she'd be sweeter
than jasmine in a springtime bed
and could attract any man she chose

Other days you had to be careful
of the venom she exuded from each pore;
heed her fangs, heed her claws

We never knew what the day would bring
until we saw her enter the room
her eyes would always betray her

First time acquaintances couldn't see
the thorns neath her blue silk chemise
nor did they know the sweet hid the sour

Yet a typical week can allow you the chance
to get a peek at every piece of her soul
to savor all that is Carlotta; as a whole

.............It's you who needs protection