Poetry
Poem of the Week
They almost asked us back...by Norah Buckley Vawter
Norah Buckley Vawter is a researcher by day and a poet-writer-wanderer by night. She graduated in 2002 from William and Mary, where she co-edited the fiction and nonfiction sections of The William and Mary Review. Norah lives in northern Virginia with her husband.
The funeral was fun!
We laughed,
We cried,
We told stories,
and of course there was the cell phone call
that transformed Margaret's eulogy.
Suddenly it was more stand-up comedy than eulogy.
A rumble went through the audience, a funny
murmur as I reached behind me, grabbed Margaret's phone, and ended the call.
We laughed
as Margaret continued her story
about how she and Denise would fight but never cry.
Margaret did her little Denise dance for when she was mad at the dead woman, then cried
out, "Who the hell is calling again in the middle of my eulogy?"
She marched over for the cell phone, stopping her story,
a perplexed, funny
look on her face. We laughed
as she answered the call.
"Hello? Who's this calling?
Well I'm busy," she said all saucy and annoyed, as we cried
with laughter
and she continued her eulogy
about the life and perseverance of the dead woman, the funny
and impossible Denise who had wonderful stories
Of backpacking around Europe and raising her daughter in New Orleans. Stories
were the way she and Margaret communicated and we heard them in between calls
until my uncle removed the batteries, with a funny
frown, and we wiped away tears because we were crying.
She finished her eulogy.
We wanted to clap, but settled for laughter.
As the next speaker walked up, I knew I was done laughing.
Vivian is from my, younger generation, and gently, quietly told her own stories,
giving her own sort of eulogy
about learning to call
Denise a friend. She made me cry,
but the fun
Wasn't over. The dead woman must've made the call, and she must've been laughing.
We told stories to keep from crying,
and the fun itself was a eulogy. The eulogy sure was fun.
read the Poem of the Week from past weeks:
Jane Eyre Takes To Cyberspace by Chella Courington
How the Olsen Twins Stay Thin by Liz Robbins
The Vine Along the Back Fence by Nancy Tripp King
Explication of an Obsession for Stealing Campus Roses by Jenna Rindo