Presence (After reading a poem by Hank Lazer)

12:00 am. the day after Easter, Jesus’ birthday
my brother in law sleeping behind me
recovering from surgery, already suffering from Multiple Sclerosis
cancer and other deformities, his spirits high

the hiding of Easter eggs he watched from
the sliding door in the living room
recalls the wreck we saw yesterday on the way home from Birmingham
out of his head in pain, going in and out of sleep he saw the body
on the stretcher with the sheet pulled over it
hearing on the news 4 U.S. soldiers dead in Iraq

delivered the day before we left to go to Birmingham
IMPORVISATIONS by Vernon Frazer 697 pages
Kind words from Frazer in the package
My words seem to matter but only to the point
When they cease

- Chris Mansel