In Memoriam
In Memoriam
By Jeanne Julian

Beside the highway
a cross waist-high
hand-lettered
whitewash frosting
graying wood
placed
where someone died

tied to it plastic flowers almost colorless
from constant assault of sun and rain and misery whizzing by

Why
not a cross
on the piano bench
in the booth at Applebee’s
by Baldacci’s books in Fiction
at the local library

or at the park near
the orange hoop
like a halo high over
the key
he slid across
spun
faked
jumped
so light
you’d think he wasn’t
of this world

Jeanne Julian is author of Like the O in Hope (The Poetry Box, 2019) and two chapbooks. Comstock Review, Kakalak, Poetry Quarterly, Naugatuck River Review and other journals have published her poems. She is co-winner of Reed Magazine's Edwin Markham Prize (2019). She regularly reviews books for the Main Street Rag and helps organize open mics with Nexus Poets. Her MFA in fiction is from the University of Massachusetts; her BA is from Allegheny College. She has traveled to all fifty states. She has never owned a dog or ridden a motorcycle. www.jeannejulian.com

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