Lea Graham : Obituarize : For Matt Henriksen, in memoriam

 
Obituarize, (v.) To write an obituary notice of or for (a person); to make the subject of an obituary

           I suppose that / is where religion begins / The house we must enter / when we
           close the final door
                                         --from Matt Henriksen’s “Kaveh’s Window”

          For Matt Henriksen, in memoriam

 

Every obituary I ever wrote
was revised by a non-writer. Passed away
turned resting in the arms of Jesus; bound
for Beulah land subbed in for died.

She loved to sing Ella Fitzgerald tunes
became her smile could light up any
room; master of Texas BBQ
changed to a joke always on his lips.

I learn today that there are maps
for these phrases, that where we live
is particular to euphemisms
for our deaths: the east coast departs

and the west coast succumbs. In Appalachia,
the deceased went home, while in Utah
they slipped away. I want to think of you
there within your beloved, broke-ass

apartment somewhere above and surrounded
by the tracks, down the street from George’s
Majestic Lounge, reading that devoted
Schuyler, listening to Van “the man,”

there in grief and profound gratitude at
the Dickson Street Bookshop when I stop through
or peacefully chucking rocks with your kids
in Wilson Park, writing my hometown

into a small kingdom of poetry
in lieu of that darkness, departing
towards creation, a night that will never
end—whippoorwill song, a celebration

for ecstasy, memorializing
a word to begin and make flesh
the people we meet, a beautiful shore,
O—this must be what they call glory

 

 

 

 

Lea Graham is the author of two poetry collections, From the Hotel Vernon (Salmon Press, 2019) and Hough & Helix & Where & Here & You, You, You (No Tell Books, 2011); a fine press book, Murmurations (Hot Tomato Press, 2020), and three chapbooks, Spell to Spell (above/ground Press, 2018), This End of the World: Notes to Robert Kroetsch (Apt. 9 Press, 2016) and Calendar Girls (above/ground Press, 2006).

She is the editor of the anthology of critical essays: From the Word to the Place: The Work of Michael Anania (MadHat Press, 2022). She is an associate professor of English at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY and a native of Northwest Arkansas.