When we posted photos of our family
playing among tombstones on the hill
above town, some social media “friends”
complained, called it morbid. But it was
your 13th birthday. How could we not
celebrate our luck? One more year above
ground for all of us. Our tradition is to let
you pick the restaurant, but we decided
to picnic, so the choice was where? You
said, “Someplace cool.” And soon we were
pretending to shiver as we posed next to a
grave of someone named Winter. Your brothers
modeled, giving two thumbs up, smiling
by a slab etched with the name Winner.
Shrugs and head scratches on either side
of Good. Yet it was good. That hill of green,
bordered by trees, a sweeping view
of the valley—the town, the river, and the
wooded hills to the north. An over-sized
trail map had been planted by the entrance
for the recently added hiking path. How
could we not take a photo? All mock tears
and anguish, beside the monument to this
nature park’s benefactor—Poorman,
whose ironic name appears on plaques, signs,
benches, and billboards all over the county.
Did he know the joy watching deer at dusk
that feed on clover at the graveyard’s edge?
Rabbits nibble flowers between mausoleums.
Wind sweeps the hill and cushions the clamor
of church bells and traffic. Below, students move
between classes on the commons that also bears
his name. I only know that you smiled all that day
and that my favorite image was of your brother Jo
checking his absent wristwatch while you leaned
as if asleep on a family marker that said Wait.
–
Micah James Bauman’s poems have been published in South 85 Journal, Word Fountain, Electric Rail, The Blue Nib, and Sage Cigarettes. His most recent publication is a poetry chapbook collaboration with his father, David J. Bauman, called Mapping the Valley: Hospital Poems (Seven Kitchens Press, 2021).
In addition to co-authoring Mapping the Valley, David J. Bauman has written two other poetry chapbooks: Angels & Adultery (Seven Kitchens Press, 2018) and Moons, Roads, and Rivers (Finishing Line Press, 2017). David has poems and poetry reviews included or forthcoming in New Ohio Review, Watershed Review, The Citron Review, and The Windhover.