Poem for Monday and Aunt Shirley's Unveiling

Ode, Aubade
By Greg Wrenn

And the morning, too,
falters,
struggles to
assert itself,

burn through
the errant
fog, the pines,
scorch the

whole grove
of trees
and crooked
streetlamps. Your

body's turning,
turning
beside me
in my bed's--

sprawl?
Badlands?
You sigh
On my neck.

Startled,
the crick
and sob buried inside it
like a pulsar

behind dust,
like a larva
in a bean,
want out.

--------

We spent Sunday morning at the cemetery where my Aunt Shirley is buried for the unveiling of her memorial plaque -- a sad occasion but also a chance to gather with family, some of whom I haven't seen since the funeral a year ago. It drizzled on and off during the day until big thunderstorms arrived a couple of hours ago, but we had nice weather for the ceremony, at which my cousins asked everyone to participate in the readings. Afterward we had lunch at Cousin Debbie's house, for which Paul made bean dip and Adam made delicious, popular multi-layer brownies that I have forbidden him to call "slutty brownies" (where in heck did that name come from?).


Aunt Shirley and Uncle Paul are buried beside her brother Milton and his wife.


It's Jewish tradition to leave stones to show that people have visited the deceased.


The memorial gardens are very pretty -- lots of open space and trees, sometimes Canada geese and other birds around.


And this is my cousins' dog Zeus.

Adam drove us everywhere today, including back to my cousin's when we realized that I had my parents' car keys in my purse and they couldn't drive home without them. We caught the end of the Nationals game, at which the Nats beat the Mets by a huge margin, and in the evening we watched the Orioles finish their sweep of the Yankees, which is much better. In between I took a walk to see bunnies and we had dinner, at which I had eggs because after a big lunch it seemed like a good idea to eat breakfast food. The school just outside our neighborhood had a big fireworks display in the evening which we assume is an early Independence Day celebration -- either that or it's for our anniversary tomorrow!