Goodbye Jesse’s Girl

My brother died on a Thursday just as the year

Came to a close. I wasn’t there although I

Tried, speed and snow don’t mix. I didn’t

Recognize him, lying so still. But the

Tears of my father, nephew, friend

Convince me of the truth.

Hugs cannot comfort now.

Only time heals

The heartbroken

Soul.

I

Wear Jesse’s

Girl and am

Reminded of the last

Time I saw him alive.

Smiling, watching a ballgame, calling me

“Brat” acceptance, in his words I don’t

want to hear. The music loud, blocking reality

Hearing muted. A dream fulfilled nearly forgetting all else.

Unwanted thoughts intrude until the screaming beat drowns them out.

I don’t write poetry often but these words bubbled out of me. My brother’s 51st birthday would have been yesterday and I struggled with thoughts of him all day. This poem is one way that I remember him.