Manual for Accidental Death

This is the library of our unrequited longings, 
stacked in piles on the floor next to various 

pieces of furniture, or lined up on foldable shelves.
None of them hold the answer to our questions:

when will the wildfires stop raging? how 
do we remedy drought? when can we breathe

without filtering the air? This summer, a truck 
crashed and fell over the side of the Chesapeake 

Bay Bridge. The driver's body was recovered—
one opinion is that he died on impact before 

the vehicle sank into the water. Is it something
for which to be grateful, that he did not choke

to death from drowning? There are many 
conditions that might be offered as potentially 

worse, none of them consoling. The water is like
mended glass. Gulls skim across its surface. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.