My following poetry won 3rd place in Las Positas College Writing Contest

A Trilogy of Death

 Death is a Part of Life

 Death is a part of life, they say;

But I say, whose death, whose life?

My death is the end of my life.

Loss of a loved one they mean?

For I say loss when I mean death

Your death is the beginning of my loss.

Is it the knowing that there is an end?

When you know, you live differently?

Life’s sweetness is in the moment.

Death is Untimely

There is no suddenness like death.

It is not just that it happens in an instant.

It is that there is a rift in time.

A loaf of bread is swiftly sliced.

It smells the same; it weighs the same;

The sum is the whole of its parts.

Not so with death, I shake my head.

Not so with death, I want yesterday.

Not so with death, I feel the emptiness.

Before that tiny instant, life was filled with you

Now life does not smell the same nor weigh the same

Its parts are shattered and there is no whole.

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Grief Indulgence

I pick up the broom, make one sweep across the floor, and leave the dust;

I put down the broom, pick up a pen, and write one thank you-- for flowers;

I lay the note near its envelope, pick up a bundle of pictures, and sort out ten;

I leave the rest, go check e-mail, and read only a few;

I answer one, find a book I’ve saved, and read three pages;

I set down the book, bookmarking everything for another day.

My soul is fragile; I indulge myself with sleep aids, hot baths, long walks;

My soul is fragile; I allow myself no focus, no goals, no guilt over chores undone.