My mother’s coffin closed,
copper like a tea kettle.
My aunt whispers, is this
where we leave her, but
more as a statement. I reply,
yes, but more a question.
*Author’s note: The title references the song by Mike + the Mechanics (1989). The song alludes to memory and descendants as extending the reach of someone who has passed. What if, I thought, the living years extend even further to where there is no death?
Rosann Kozlowski is the recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Individual Artist Grant in Poetry, and her work is published in journals and anthologies. She writes poetry, plays and essays and has worked as a yoga teacher, a chemist, a middle school teacher, a college professor and freelance writer.