Funeral Service

Funeral Service

Kathryn Borobia

"A friend to all; a good man." Thoughts and prayers
that trickle past the tongue (and through the ears)
leave not a taste. My mind uncloyed adheres
instead to syllables repeated, snares
on smoothness. Blade of well-worn wishes pares
this fatty heart in labor without tears
to bloody rhythms tapping out: "here's
what once was had, now lost." 

                                                        I think it bears
repeating, and repeating, all such speech
as dry as wafer, slippery as oil —
the only kind of word that can efface
from memory eternal its own trace.
Where grandeur enters mystery recoils,
preferring always platitudes like these.

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Kathryn Borobia
Poet & Nursery Merchandiser

Katy is a recent graduate of Hillsdale College, where she studied English & Math and received several creative writing scholarships. Her poems and prose have been published by Ekstasis, Glass Mountain, Ekphrastic Review, and several others. After trying her hand at service, horticulture, 4-H education, and editing, Katy still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up.

Photography by Alexander Grey