death
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Soon Enough
Death comes soon enough;Why invite it in early? Why be jealous? Why be angry? Why nurse the grudge, rehearse the hurt? Why resent? Why fear? Why welcome decay?Why hurry death? Soon enough. Soon enough. Text… Continue reading
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Digital Silence
And lo,at noon,digital silencefell across the land– no phones, no pods, no pads, no tweets, no posts, no notifications, no e-mails, not a single text– only silence. And in the… Continue reading
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Dreaming
At night they come to me–my sister or my father,my mother or her mother–mutually recognizingthat they have diedand that we have,for whatever reason,been given a few more minutes together. Sometimes,I ask questions,because I need to know,to understandmyself. Sometimesit is enough… Continue reading
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Fashion Week
Along the spare runwayskinny, slack-faced models slouch,whose bodies movebut faces do not. When did the lack of feelingbecome sexy? When did boredom(or is it death)become beauty? Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading
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O Antiphons: Dayspring
O come, thou Dayspring from on high, and cheer us by thy drawing nigh; dispense the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadow put to flight. We watchnot only through dark nightsbut also dark days.Who filled the worldwith… Continue reading
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Existence/Experience
When my father died,I looked through his vast library,and ran my fingers over the polished surfacesof the furniture he had built,and asked,"What was the point?" Then, when my mother died,I looked at her wall of needlepoint,and thumbed through her boxesof… Continue reading
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Beings of Light
"I am surrounded by beings of light,"he said, and then,"Can you see them?" I could not,though I did not doubt him;as surely as he was here,they had to be here, too–had to!—to comfort him, certainly,perhaps to lead him along. Then,… Continue reading
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She returns to the houseafter the funeral,alone for the first timein weeks.She exhales onto the couch;a sadness of flowerssurrounds her. This is the silencethat is not silence: the refrigerator hums; the traffic grumbles; her heart beats. This… Continue reading
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Mom’s Birthday, February 28, 2013
She would have turned 93,were she alive. Is it okay to say,"Today my mother turns 93,"or can one no longer say this,when the body is gone?In such cases,there is nothing to turn 93.A buried box of ashes?Even that likely no… Continue reading