Prompt Night #3 "To be in grief is to be dislodged from the mouth of time" (January 2025)

 

To be in grief is to be dislodged from the mouth of time

To be in grief is to learn how to breath in the smog

Thin gray altocumulus hover lightly over our Christmas ham 

The air is thick and soon the meat will go cold 

To be in grief is to sit, a stone pillar 

While grandpa recites prayer through sobs 

I hate the man 

I loved the woman 

To be in grief is to drink from bottles instead of glasses 

This is what you are allotted in your grief 

I am exempt from judgment when my words become fragments 

You will avert your eyes from the droplet on my chin, 

whether it is white wine or tears will remain unknown to you

To be in grief is to pull your jacket sleeve over your hand and wipe the snow from the tombstone

and sit with an uncomfortably damp sleeve the whole car ride home

To be in grief is to unravel the string lights from the pine on the 26th

The second cousins have made it to their connecting flights

No need to upkeep for any blood-ties who’s occupations are unknown to us

The glue, dries, holds, and then withers away 

Grief is the dissipation of the facade 

To be in grief is to be honest

Grief is the truth