When You Write My Eulogy
– Poetry by Sherri Wright –
When you write my eulogy make it kind
don’t include teasing poor Billy
in the cloak room at the country school or riding
in my girlfriend’s boyfriend’s fast car
radio blasting tires screeching laying rubber
don’t say I cried and begged to go home
and then she and I drifted apart
we’d worn matching shirtwaist dresses
and black suede shoes the first day
of eighth grade stayed up all night playing 45’s
dancing to Buddy Holly and Elvis in our pajamas
and socks I heard she married
her hot rod boyfriend our senior year
but I had moved away and never saw her again
Paint me in a positive light junior princess
in the dress review purple ribbon at the county fair
high school honor roll please don’t mention senior
banquet when the principal announced my scholarship
after I’d skipped out to drive around in my mother’s
coral Oldsmobile smoking cigarettes looking for boys
Gloss over getting married young but include
a bachelor’s a master’s a daughter
who loves to read love-ins sit-ins
anti-war protests and bell bottom
pants don’t mention my divorce
or deferred adolescence but apologize
for the times I was a lousy parent
For all the rest just say I loved children and dogs
and worked hard for fifty years
its not necessary to bring up gnarled fingers
wisps of white hair signs of dementia
Actually I’ll be happy if you just say
“she ran some fast races and wrote a few good poems”
About the Author – Sherri Wright
Sherri Wright is a member of the Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild and the Key West Poetry Guild. She runs, practices yoga, and volunteers at a center for homeless all of which figure into her writing. Her work has been published in Clementine, Panoply, Creative Nonfiction, Rat’s Ass Review, District Lines Volume IV, Mojave River Review, Decimos-We Say, and Delaware Beach Life.
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