The day that day began
with birthdays on TV
the novelty of teenagers
pushing eighty with candles
and cake in some back room
smiling for the camera
knowing time is a fiction
more than perhaps others
At night the call came that night
we went to the small room
for her things placing a cloth
over her face before walking
into the night staring at loss
shining back at us as stars
wherever spirit goes it is
carried by extinguished
This month has been six months
as the above now is eight years
my dad so still he smiled
we buried them together
my father and grandmother
at the oldest church we knew
keeping in the family structures
we hope to remain exist
We thought we would remember
we would remember only
every four years when they add
a day to keep the seasons in days
not even knowing what is today
we keep the score the same
Joshua Keiter 