My Mother Sent Me
a text message
from her coffin.
It said Glad
you’re not here.
She's always doing
stuff like that. She says
it’s to help me
savor my remaining
days. But I know
it’s because I’m
the only one left
who hasn’t changed
his number.
Copyright © 2014 by Michael Meyerhofer. Used with permission of the author.
“‘My Mother Sent Me’ came to me as I was moving cross-country, mesmerized by the rust and gold deserts framing the highway, and thinking of all the people I’d like to share the moment with. From there, I guess it turned into a short, darkly comedic rumination on the lingering nature of grief, as well as an affirmation of the kind of mindfulness that (I hope) grief can sometimes propagate.”
—Michael Meyerhofer
Michael Meyerhofer
Michael Meyerhofer is the author of What To Do If You’re Buried Alive (Split Lip Press, 2015) and Damnatio Memoriae (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2011). He serves as the poetry editor of Atticus Review and lives in Fresno, California.