Poetry Corner

This is a poem I wrote in college that I wanted to share.

Corpse Beautician

I enter the embalming room.

Florescent lights shine unrelenting

Formaldehyde fumes choke.

The decedent waits

in her satin-lined casket.

I sit beside the young woman with

cold, translucent skin

stretched over empty organ

crevices and preserving fluids.

Her eyes are sealed

with mortician’s glue.

No screams depart

from sewn lips.

My gloved fingers trace

wounds on her chest.

Small, elongated

craters on innocent flesh.

It takes extra plaster

to cover signs of murder.

Her body is wrapped in a dress

of forget-me-not blue.

A mother’s last gift

to her daughter’s

uninhabited remains.

An old photograph left

on the table guides me in

changing grey skin from

death to sleep.

Make-up fakes rose kissed cheeks

and laughing pink lips.

I position her long raven

hair with my finger tips.

She is ready.