monument (for my brother);

My mother is listening to a preacher this morning.

My brother is leaving for college.

My other sibling is crying their eyes out

Because my brother is leaving for college.

­

I’m reading old writing from 2015,

Finding many reasons to cry.

Nothing will happen today

But everything is happening today.

­

I won’t shy away; I think I have

Good enough reasons to cry,

Mostly because my brother

Is leaving for college.

­

So I’ll cry.

­

You took the brunt of my complaints,

And I feel I helped you devise your own

Deductions, but this one hurts.

I hope you do what I couldn’t.

­

This feels like a stuffy nose & fever—

Like I took advantage of every

Uncomplicated breath.

I don’t get Halloween. I don’t get

­

You helping me trudge through the rest

Of August. I don’t get you on my birthday—

The cruelest day. The day I run from

And time and drink through;

­

The day that I think about being one day

Older than Mr. Summers, likely married

Now, and chasing his kids through

Their wonder years.

­

So I’ll cry.

­

I know you’ll do what I couldn’t.

And the world would love to have you.

The ball bounces when we can breathe

Life into it,

­

Before the grave.

I miss you already,

Wunderkind.