Death

By Crisosto Apache

For E.P. Kazhe/Botella

The dread, however, was not of death’s agonies.
— Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, tr. by Will Petersen

it is prohibited to whisper the names of the dead,
as it encourages them to linger at the doorstep,
and she has already lingered, far too long

 

Source: Poetry (June 2018)