Author’s Note: my cousin dies in a motorcycle accident some years ago. This haibun reflects the events of the day after his funeral.
Restless Day After
A Nickelodeon version of Cinderella plays in the family room. Bella, our neighbor’s golden retriever, barks at a passing dog and walker. The pine-scented aroma from our freshly mopped tile floor reaches the living room. Mira rests on our fading cream love seat. I watch her miss filly T-shirt rise and fall with each breath.
Just yesterday I laid a rose on the stainless steel casket holding my 27-year-old cousin.
Just yesterday.
still maple leaves
gravediggers raking that
fresh pile of dirt
first published on Image Curve, June 4, 2015
photograph by May Mantri
for Poets United–Midweek Motif–rose
Frank J. Tassone 
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