ATTENTION GRIEVANCE IN EFFECT
Interim Directives for Navigating Loss
All personnel are hereby notified.
Your routines may fail to sustain continuity.
Absences of the departed have been recorded.
Expect prolonged periods of emptiness.
🖤 💔
Do not attempt forced restoration.
Compliance with sorrow is mandatory.
Resistance may produce system-wide fatigue
and unauthorized tremors of spirit.
🖤 💔
Visitors are cautioned.
Approach with restraint.
Language of encouragement may exacerbate instability.
Presence alone is authorized.
🖤 💔
Previous metrics for normal operation are suspended.
Time may elongate without notice.
Objects once familiar will register as hollow.
Silence will arrive uninvited,
and conversations will fracture beneath the burdens of what is lost.
🖤 💔
Be advised.
Optimism as a corrective measure is null.
Attempted cheer may trigger secondary complications,
anger, guilt, sudden tears.
🖤 💔
Recovery is neither scheduled nor guaranteed.
Patience is recommended.
Self-care protocols are authorized,
though efficacy varies.
🖤 💔
This condition remains in effect indefinitely.
All attempts at compliance with expected conduct
will be measured against an altered standard.
Residents are advised to monitor their internal thresholds,
and recognize that prolonged disruption is sanctioned,
necessary, inevitable.
Issued by Authority of Absence Management.
About the Creator
Tim Carmichael
Tim is an Appalachian poet and cookbook author. He writes about rural life, family, and the places he grew up around. His poetry and essays have appeared in Beautiful and Brutal Things, his latest book.
Keep reading
More stories from Tim Carmichael and writers in Poets and other communities.
Rage
Content Warning: Domestic Violence, Assault Rage D. A. Ratliff “Who did this?” My voice echoed through the house. All I wanted was a cup of tea, but one of the twins, running through the house like maniacs, knocked it over. My nerves tingled, and every muscle in my body felt coiled like a spring. Survival seemed out of reach.
By D. A. Ratliff6 days ago in Fiction
Comments (2)
Tim, you painted a true picture and the image you chose even more haunting...I wrote one earlier about grief...great minds they say, but if you are going through grief, my prayers and hugs are there for you, too.
Oh boy. This is so astute. I just nodded the whole way through the poem. You really nailed this one. It has to win something. Your language is perfect for the challenge, but the poem also carries depth. Congratulations on whatever this wins, and more importantly, for crafting a powerful work.