i never knew grief was a verb

i never knew grief was a verb
synonym for
to sprint; to vomit; to grip

goodbyes are a space
hanging off a harvest moon
praying for a fire
a necessary void
we’ve been told

apostrophes mean
selfish, clingy, weak
and the absence of one
can bring you to your knees

what is a funeral
but a colon —
professions
with non-committal punctuation
jumping from exclamation to question
in the wave of a bated breath

semicolons are for the privileged
the calm for complex thoughts

prose is such a luxury

we use commas
hoping to find salvation
at the back of a throat
but floating is fickle
something always washes us away

promises
are nothing but a period
and fuck a period.

all we’re left with is
question marks
we bury
in our backyards
hoping historians
or ghosts
dig them up

Poetry
-
February 11,
2020
-
2-minute
read

Paula EthansDecember 10, 2020