Where To Look For Deceased Parents
Search the sky first, because that’s where ghosts go. Floating around, watching us falling apart.
The moon’s a liar. Check it. Another body aging—no secret codes. A chunk of cheese reflecting
someone else’s light. We cannot drink them away. If we reach for alcohol, the faulty wires,
fraying our patience it would be like looking into the scotch glass, with our tiny souls trapped
in the ice-cubes. But when we soul search, you know the disease that killed them burned too
fast—no voices will raise up, no familiar laughter. So, light a candle, two dollars at the abbey.
Flames will pulse, a leaping fire—something absorbing the oxygen, anything that imitates
breath. Ever try a mirror? Lean in close, intimate. Our noses touch a doppelgänger, God created
your eyes in your parent’s image. See. Breathe. Reflect. All that is left is us down to the echoes
in our flesh covered bone. The O shape of our grieving, empty mouth, we should fill but do not.
Timothy Gager has published 20 books of fiction and poetry, which includes his latest novel, The Shadows of the Seen, forthcoming with Pierian Springs Press in 2025. He hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, MA from 2001 to 2018, and started a weekly virtual series in 2020. He has had over 1000 works of fiction and poetry published, 18 nominations for the Pushcart Prize. His work also has been nominated twice for a Massachusetts Book Award, The Best of the Web, The Best Small Fictions Anthology and has been read on National Public Radio.
