The Left Arm's Funeral
for the "Unnecessary Line" challenge
He wept into his mothers skirt.
The day was hot with salty steam.
The old oak bent to offer shade for
the one who had to learn
how to be full again.
.
The pastor raised his head,
sweat droplets melted down his face,
he didn't know what words to say
to ease a phantom itch.
"The clouds look like turtles."
.
They lowered him slowly,
into the opened earth below the gnarly tree.
He threw his toy train on the casket.
"So long, old pal."—so, it came to full circle,
and now he has to learn
how to live whole again.
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Comments (4)
I can guess what the unnecessary line is. I think I can guess what it's for too.
💖 The pastor seems far removed here. The words he utters when he doesn't know how to ease a "phantom itch" say more about his religious distance than they do about the one weeping in his mother's skirt. The Antithesis between these two selves is silent, but the moral bearing is tight enough for me to see the knot around his influence.
Wow, this is really well done.
Oh! What a creative take on this challenge. It flows effortlessly but I immediately knew what it was for. Great work!