Before<\/p>\n\n\n\n
we cleaned out<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yia Yia\u2019s apartment,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mother said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
not to remember the dead<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in sum. That if we did,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
we\u2019d only ever be remembered<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in our shame and guilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paramedics found the body<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in her favorite armchair: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
fleur-de-lis on worn blue<\/p>\n\n\n\n
fabric with the stuffing torn<\/p>\n\n\n\n
out of armrest peepholes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the cabinets over the stove, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
we find canned soups <\/p>\n\n\n\n
with expiration dates <\/p>\n\n\n\n
of the last presidency; <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and missing from their lacquered rack, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
pawned silver spoons she sold<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to keep the teapot whistling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I return the landline <\/p>\n\n\n\n
to its cornflower hook\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and organize numerical <\/p>\n\n\n\n
languages on trifold matte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My brother holds framed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
renderings of the Cape house,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sold on a low bid, when <\/p>\n\n\n\n
the stonemason calls<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and asks how we\u2019d like to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matt Vekakis is an MFA student in poetry at the University of Florida. Their recent work has appeared in Southern Humanities Review, Atlanta Review, Appalachian Review, Welter, and Up the Staircase Quarterly. Matt serves as EIC of The Lunch Break Zine\u2014the literary companion of Out to Lunch Records.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before we cleaned out Yia Yia\u2019s apartment, Mother said not to remember the dead in sum. That if we did, we\u2019d only ever be remembered in our shame and guilt. Paramedics found the body in her favorite armchair: fleur-de-lis on worn blue fabric with the stuffing torn out of armrest peepholes. In the cabinets over … <\/p>\n