#108 - have you been to the funeral ...

17.4.20

108

have you been to the funeral…

and thought

it’s not theirs

it’s not them      

but of course they’re coming

they’ll be here

a bit late

… as per usual

already missing some mannerism

or

expecting any moment

they burst out of the cake

make a birthday of it …

step down from the slide show

and drumroll ta-dah!

ghastly and ghoulish, but just for effect

in fact probably for some pedantic correction

or left on the stove

accidentally wiped the hard drive

what tricksters your dead’ns can be!

awkward and cute too with it

all twinkle in eye

is how they got so far

ever and always taking the piss

never miss a party

or any chance of fun

some says ‘frail’, ‘past it’

actually strong as brick shithouse

and yelling at you ‘get off the can!’

not wanting to get ahead of themselves

and now behind the eight-ball

they’ve always Houdini’d the thing before

now here’s the past tense earned

nothing fancy –

the Luggnagg drag

ripe old innings –

the Struldbrug

lame with puns

dress up in religious garments to mock

bits falling off

they all tell leper jokes in care

rehash racist anecdotes of another age

they think domestic violence is funny

and they can laugh at themselves

at least up to a point

‘irreverent’, it says on the back

(these days a T shirt)

there’s someone else in the box

(probably put there by you-know-who)

or like a bed puffed up with pillows

where your teenager’s snuck off

gone

as in wild

as in feral

fled

playing SARDINES

but not in the coffin

they’re in a cupboard hiding somewhere

in some dusty corner of the castle

closer and closer

some have called it a nursing home

(that’s re-badging)

everyone can self-medicate there

and sometimes be assisted

sublime decay – they’ve

got it licked

‘such was life’

they seem to say

having made the longest speech

now at the snacks and drinks

last with an hurrah

eyes plead

expectant for applause