Services at a Later Date - Robin Wright

Services at a Later Date

I pick blue hydrangeas
from my yard. Don’t know
what to do with them.
Arrange them in a vase, press
them in a book, release them
at the riverbank? My friend,
Gloria, gone six months.
Online obituary still says,
Services at a later date.

I pull off some petals, toss them
in the grass, wave stems
like impotent wands.
More petals fall. The ground
is loose and damp. I claw
the soil, bury what’s left
of the flowers, push
my palms together, pretend
I know how to pray.

Originally published by Lost River Literary Magazine 2016

Robin Wright lives in Southern Indiana. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming in As it Ought to Be, Loch Raven Review, One Art, Young Ravens Literary Review, Spank the Carp, The New Verse News, Bombfire Lit, Rat’s Ass Review, Muddy River Poetry Review,Sanctuary, and others. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her first chapbook, Ready or Not, was published by Finishing Line Press in October of 2020.