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Postmodern Village
est. 1999
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How Can I Not Get Upset When Someone Dies?
by Hezekiah Allen Taylor

3:08 they find the body, rule it suicide, commit the rope into evidence and the old leather jacket into your care

4:02 you clean the bathroom, disposing of his toothbrush, aftershave, razor with one sweep into a large kitchen garbage bag; you do the same with his clothes, his shoes; you pause in the living room, but he was never one for knickknacks

6:30 you scrub the dishes, rinse clean the last coffee mug his lips touched, the fork with which he ate his pancake breakfast

6:45 you pour his vodka over the only ivy plant he kept alive through college; he named it Fred and kissed its tallest leaves each night before bed

7:30 they call to ask about arrangements to pick up the body but you don't answer, you're so busy meditating, carefully pulling forth each memory of his existence and erasing it as if your mind, your heart, were sidewalk praying for rain to wash off chalk

Francine's Version -- Hezekiah's Version -- Inspiration
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