Here is my submission for Rick West primalbeet’s Stories from the Jukebox prompt, Life During Wartime, by Talking Heads.
Grief isn’t linear.
It sucker punches you three months out—
like,
out of nowhere.
And you’re left wondering, all over again,
how you were fileted so surgically precise…
almost like it knew exactly where to go.
This? This is dedicated to him.
And to what I’m carrying that’s unresolved
rolling around in my brain
weighing down my heart
while I show up in the daylight,
trying to pass for normal.
And it’s heavy.
Heavier than what was named.
I’m not broken.
I’m not unprepared.
I’m not afraid.
I’m—
a little tired
a little wounded
a little guarded
—but
I showed up anyway.
I didn’t do this for show—
what I’ve been building
in real time
while hemorrhaging
and dancing
and smiling
through
the
grief.
Here’s the mixtape.
Life During Wartime — David Byrne
I Don’t Care What You Call Me — David Ford
Good Enough — Michael Marcagi
Come Pick Me Up — Ryan Adams
Check out Rick’s novel, First Light, featured this month over on Southern Writers Guild.
As always, I think you should check out all the Stories from the Jukebox. Maybe start here:
