Remembering Old Joe
Skid-marks led up to the rumpled-crumpled guardrail.
She stopped at the spot
the car left the highway, leaving
skid-marks on the road .
Loved ones tossed flowers
near the rumpled-crumpled guardrail.
* * *
Someone plugged a criss-cross marker
a foot into the ground,
showing the location
Old Joe took
his last, deep, earthly breath.
* * *
The marker was plain wood,
covered with scripted scribbles:
“We love you & miss you.”
“Thinking of you! ALWAYS!!!”
“Do not go gentle into that good night.”
* * *
One wag put a travel poster
just left off the make-shift tombstone.
Who knows why?
Impulse, maybe—
an existential overture, perhaps.
* * *
“I should leave something, too,”
she thought. “Something special.”
So, to remember Old Joe,
she put a red solo cup
atop the home-made wooden cross.
About the Creator
j.s.lamb
Retired journalist. Author of "Orange Socks & Other Colorful Tales," a collection of short stories about how I survived the U.S. Navy and kept my sense of humor. (Available on Amazon.)
Comments
There are no comments for this story
Be the first to respond and start the conversation.