Poetry by Jacqueline Zalace
“Elegy For Anonymous”
By Jacqueline Zalace
I.
Sliced clean across with a sharp blade,
you felt it, didn’t you? It’s winter now,
we mourn, we pray, we hold hands
and think of you. Gone but not Forgotten cards
are not on the mantle, are not leaning
against the fake plant covered in a thick
layer of dust and oil and grease from the kitchen
where we fried chicken last night.
II.
Hung upside down, your feet were trapped
in delicate chains. We celebrate your life,
your death. We make breakfast, scramble
eggs and add powdery cheese to the top,
melting in the cracks. Topped with a thick slice
of warm bacon, the grease coating our fingers
and tongues. We ignore you and eat until
it’s time to eat again.
III.
They tore you apart, burned off your skin,
moved on to the next. You are less than
a thought, no longer dancing across our minds,
not able to take root. The mantle remains empty,
no ashes trapped in a box, just the white wicker
basket filled with candy and grass and small
eggs filled with cream that leaks
down our chins.
IV.
You didn’t die right away, it was slow
and painful. Nobody hugged you, nobody
wiped your tears. Nobody wiped the blood
that dripped down your face. It’s summer now,
we don’t remember. We buy popsicles
and bug spray and meat that’s on sale, shoved
onto skewers to grill underneath the fireworks,
we skewer you through the heart.
- Jacqueline Zalace is an author based in Austin, Texas. You can find her work
published on Autumn Sky Poetry, and forthcoming in [Alternate Route].
When not writing, Jacqueline spends her time playing video games, painting, and
reading.