I’d waited at my friend’s funeral to share the poem I’d written about him, the one his wife asked me to read. The poem had just won a contest; she said to make sure I said so. But as I got up to read, she’d cut off the stream of speakers. Next, she whispered that I should bring the poem to the afterpicnic. As I helped her carry food from the church to her car she said, I hope you’ll understand, the picnic is for family only. My poem and I headed home, to cry for him and for ourselves.
Laurinda Lind's first chapbook, Trials by Water, came out in 2024 (Orchard Street Press).