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Daniel Lawless: From the Afterlife
My last days were not so bad, my ex-wife says from the afterlife,
Not so bad as you think. So relax.
The Home Helpers you hired didn’t steal from me
As far as I knew, neither money or my Dilaudid—
Or have their boyfriends over as if I were blind and deaf.
I especially liked the Dominican one,
Alaia—Lord, the stories she could tell!
I read, watched a lot of television, if you can believe it,
Baseball, if you can believe it, Maddow, the food shows.
You remind me a little of Bourdain. Sexy, but no beast. Seriously,
Though –Chilaquiles! Tariflette! I don’t think I weighed
Ninety pounds. Can you imagine? White as a ghost.
But here’s the thing. Happy, Daniel. You can’t imagine.
What did Thoreau say? I grew like corn in the night.
On the inside. Well, there was only the inside, really,
I was flying inside myself, like Bill Knott. It was dark,
But I wasn’t scared. I made my own light. A bioflurescent jellyfish,
Like at Monterrey. Other times, I sprouted legs.
Long, beautiful legs with glitter-spritzed toenails like Alaia’s,
I remember visiting her mother’s orchard,
I was the highest lechosa on the tree no one could reach.
What do the French say? The disparition de _______________ ?
When I woke up, I had disappeared.
My old grass hut/lived in now by another generation/
Is decked out with dolls, wrote Basho.
Does that help, Daniel? Or, remember that trip to Lucerne?
Imagine it went on forever. Not so bad.
I, watching you watch me write my name in fogged breath on a windowpane
And watching it disappear.
Stepping outside some inn or other after the thunderclouds rolled past,
Everything calm, reticent. How like the Swiss
We could see the Alps everywhere from wherever we were standing.
Copyright 2024 Daniel Lawless. From I Tell You This Now (Červená Barva Press, 2024).
Daniel Lawless is the author of The Gun My Sister Killed Herself With. He is the founder and editor of Plume: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry.
Vox Populi 
Beautiful!
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Yes, it is beautiful!
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Tender and funny: an unusual combo to pull off. Super poem!
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Yes, the poem is weirdly funny. I find it very moving.
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Astonishing, alive – wonderful poem!
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Isn’t it, though?
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So imaginative Daniel. Wonderful poem. Thank you. (Carla Schwartz)
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love this!!!
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An afterlife of personal marvels. Wow.
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Bingo. Bravo!
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This was THE perfect way to start my sunny day — thanks, Danny for this poem!
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I love this love poem❤️
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I do too, Lisa. Danny has given us a dialogue with a dead person who comes across as witty, lyrical and disrespectful to her former husband.
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what a superb poem Daniel! Goes places of surprise, wonder. Thankyou Michael for choosing and posting it!
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Thanks, Sean.
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So Deeply felt and beautiful. !
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astonishing, Danny! So original! Kudos.
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