If She Could Talk

If she could talk, this would be her last words before she was gone. This would be her monologue.

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my body's changing
I can tell, I can feel it, helpless
I know dark pages are ahead
no, I refuse to end this chapter now
just let me read this book longer
will you stay with me, read to me 
let me fall asleep to your voice

let's take a picture, it's been a while
no, not full body, just the face
don't worry, I'll smile for us both
please don't smile, can't handle it now
it's your eyes, they smile too

I don't have much more to say
don't have anything to give you
what else to leave, everything breaks
I'll leave our sweet youthful times
when we never talk or think about
departing

it's dark ahead, I see it
why are you lighting a candle?
yes, I'm scared too, but let's use flashlights
they last longer

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#NaPoWriMo2021 – Day 8, and here is the prompt below, best explained when directly copied from the original instruction:

And last but not least, our (optional) prompt. I call this one “Return to Spoon River,” after Edgar Lee Masters’ eminently creepy 1915 book Spoon River Anthology. The book consists of well over 100 poetic monologues, each spoken by a person buried in the cemetery of the fictional town of Spoon River, Illinois.

Today, I’d like to challenge you to read a few of the poems from Spoon River Anthology, and then write your own poem in the form of a monologue delivered by someone who is dead. Not a famous person, necessarily – perhaps a remembered acquaintance from your childhood, like the gentleman who ran the shoeshine stand, or one of your grandmother’s bingo buddies. As with Masters’ poems, the monologue doesn’t have to be a recounting of the person’s whole life, but could be a fictional remembering of some important moment, or statement of purpose or philosophy. Be as dramatic as you like – Masters’ certainly didn’t shy away from high emotion in writing his poems.

The poem above is for a dear friend of mine. In 4 more days, it’ll be 9 years since her passing. This is for you, sis.