Flowers when you’re dead

April 23, 2013
in a bucket-Union Square SF florist
who wants flowers when you’re dead? nobody.
J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
That’s right.
Nobody.
I don’t like those funeral wreaths
and huge formal things on stands
artificially arranged in a cross or a heart 
or who knows
in white
or red and white
with maybe a big ribbon that reads
Beloved Aunt
or Dad.
No.
Better that you bring me poseys
and bouquets 
now
nosegays picked from garden
dew still on petals
Yes
bring them now
while I can exclaim over them
while they can catch my eye
a burst of color on a counter
or shelf
No.
I really, 
really 
don’t like funeral arrangements.
I think they should add a checkoff box to
Advanced Directives
that says
No Funeral Flowers
That’s what I think.
One comment on “Flowers when you’re dead”
  1. Daisy Russel says:
    October 25, 2018 at 10:06 am

    Great photo and poem!

    Reply

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Here you’ll find my blog, some of my essays, published writing, and my solo performances. There’s also a link to my Etsy shop for healing and grief tools offered through A Healing Spirit.

 

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