Uncle On Screen
The dead never disappear.
They live on through social media.
My deceased uncle Fiore appears to me
in a surprise party video
posted on Facebook
less than three months before his passing.
He greets his nieces and nephews,
his shrunken figure enveloped in hugs.
At the end of the clip,
at about the eighteen-second mark,
he bobs his head and looks up—
his black eyes penetrating
the glass screen of my computer
and locking on me.
The frozen image is eerie,
but also comforting.
His expression seems to say:
“Hey, I’m still here, even though
I’m on the other side.
Time and space and decomposition
cannot eradicate the bond of love
forged during my lifetime.
I’m still watching you.
And anytime you want to see me,
just log in to FB and hit play.”
Little Spider
All matter clings to life.
Even a tiny brown spider
fights to stay afloat
before it circles the drain.
Cake Mistake
Peggy made a huge mistake
when she baked a
grocery store celebration cake.
She put a D
where a T should be
in the middle of the
word CONGRATULATIONS.
The customer was pissed.
But Peggy kept silent
as the irate woman left the store
without paying for her order.
Peggy’s manager docked her pay,
and yelled at her for making
such a stupid mistake,
to which Peggy replied:
“Look, I never went to college
and there’s no spell-check when baking a cake.
And I’m sorry I screwed up, but I think that D
will taste just as sweet as a T,
so I’ll take that cake home for my kids to eat.”
