Corey Mesler’s most recent collection of poetry, Our Locust Years, was recently released by Unbound Content. He is the author of many novels, chapbooks, poetry collections, and short story collections. You can (and should!) read more about him at his blog.

All the Dead
By Corey Mesler

All the dead
who died
and I knew them
not; forgive
me. It’s so soft
here in
the suburbs, the
rainbow over
the garbage
bin, the
light inside the
sleeping cars.
I offer a prayer here
today for
the long dead, the
newly dead,
the dead to come.
I say, I will
be there late if
not soon. I
will lift from
this bed of ash
and I will
be angelic, if not
an angel. I will
ask you my name
and you will
say, He Who Comforts.
And I will know,
for the first time,
that I am more than me.