Poetry by Bianca Grace

          ​katie chao and ben muessig CC



Obituary with Your Name in It

The rusty smell of blood lingered 
                                             across the freeway the instant your ghost 
                         was born. Fragmented body parts 

          grieved as they landed north and south 
   bound at the slaughter scene. The truck driver’s panic 
                               attack was an earthquake that thunderstruck

                                                       an entire town. You handed a life sentence 
                                                                      of flashbacks that taunt him every time 
     he flicks the ignition on. The local newspaper splattered 

your story in bloody ink but they never wrote your name. 
                              But your family did, your neighbourhood did, your friends did 
and I did. Flynn, I vomited in my chest 

  of drawers aching to know why you chose a coffin 
                                                                            over your son. The psychedelic drug 
of suicide 
loiters as the hallucinations of your face 

stalk me at work. Dad was there 
                      filming for the news but he didn’t know 
it was you. The mountains 

                                       of soccer trophies you won watch over
   your son as he dreams of you standing in your red 
                                                   and blue uniform at the end of his crib. Your life 

                                                                            fills a cardboard box that he opens every day 
                                                so he never forgets who you are. Flynn, for 10 years I saw the dark    
         shadows you couldn’t escape no matter how fast you ran. 
                            
    In your will you wrote all our names. We each inherited a piece of your pain.


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Bianca Grace is a poet from Australia. She writes from her living room which is overloaded with photos of memories which she draws inspiration from.

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