The Lamb Chop Grief Spiral - Les Bernstein

[Lawrence Robinson]

The Lamb Chop Grief Spiral
 
Without nuance
it started when the butcher asked
how many lamb chops 
too embarrassed to say 
just two
a pathetic number
so incomplete 
yet fully realized
I say four
 
I tell myself 
each person who is stuck in the past
is stuck alone
the only valid tense is the present
I say there is a singularity 
where all is one 
and here 
in brown paper
are the lamb chops
 
there was a time 
dinner was shared
continuing on is neither
an ethical victory
nor a noble failure
 
in grief's own cathedral
this now 
is my only destination
what will I do on my stay here
I pick up the fork and knife 
and eat

	- Les Bernstein