How many epitaphs etched onto these
one hundred year old stones are
nothing more than well intentioned lies?
Or representatives of stories the
mourners told themselves at the time?
How many promises were made as
these bodies were lowered into graves
that the living really didn’t want to keep?
It’s impossible for every dead person
to have “lit up the room” — I can’t
name more than two I know personally.
And aren’t “pillars of the community”
typically nothing more than a
white man with the most secrets?
When I die — please be nothing more
than honest.
1988- 