Life Of The Party
Life Of The Party
By Bonnie Neubauer
At the widow meetup
We go around the circle
Many women share
How they hardly remember
Anything
From their first year
I decide
If that’s the case
It would be just fine
To talk about
My recent trip to Delaware
And how I bought
A vibrator
At a discount store
To celebrate
My first New Year’s Eve
Alone
I grin
From ear-to-ear
All the way home
Imagining how you

Would enjoy
Hearing about
Their shocked faces
And wide smiles
No tears tonight
Just gratitude
For the last 20 years
Where I got to enjoy
Being with you
The life of the party

I am pretty sure
That’s what I was
This evening
That is
If you can call
A widow meetup
A party
I guess everyone’s gotta start somewhere

Bonnie Neubauer is the author of creative writing books including The Write-Brain Workbook (Writer’s Digest Books, 2005) and the creator of Story Spinner, a handheld creative writing prompt generator. She is also the widow of a man who always wanted to live off grid and under the radar. To keep his dream alive, none of her poems ever mentions his name; he is always referred to as you. Bonnie is a Certified Life Cycle Celebrant® specializing in innovative nondenominational funerals. She is also a Certified Grief Support Practitioner® who runs grief resilience workshops. When she’s not writing or grieving, Bonnie can be found playing, teaching, or designing board games.

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