BUMPER STICKER
Glad she’s not here to see that
says my uncle to the oversized font
ahead of us at the stoplight –
I love crack whores, bold letters
awash in Iowa sun-glare just as we’re
circling back from the hospice,
my grandmother’s clothes in a bag
in the trunk, and I’m not sure
if he gets that it’s a joke,
a slash of crude humor the day
before Thanksgiving, and I know
not half an hour earlier we
were hugging in the parking lot
and weeping like orphans but now
we’re on our way to buy
a body’s weight in birdseed
since we already drove all this way
past ditches and farmhouses
and there’s the store right down
the street from the hospital, sign lit,
broad glass doors ready to open.
*
Michael Meyerhofer is the author of five books of poetry – including What To Do If You’re Buried Alive (free from Doubleback Books). His work has appeared in The Sun, Missouri Review, Southern Review, Brevity, Rattle and other journals. He’s also the author of a fantasy series and six poetry chapbooks. For more info and an embarrassing childhood photo, visit troublewithhammers.com.
