Kelly DeMaegd currently lives with her husband in Sherrills Ford NC. She spends her time creating mixed media collage, gardening, and writing poetry. She has had a previous poem published at Wild Goose Poetry Review.
If This Were My Last Day
By Kelly DeMaegd
If this were my last day
I would iron linen napkins,
put the leaves in the table.
roast two fat chickens,
bake a chocolate cake.
If this were my last day,
I would surround myself with good friends,
disparate souls, my rag-tag family.
We would repeat the story
about grandma misplacing three
sets of dentures, cry
when we learn morphine
didn’t ease the pain, debate
soap bar versus washcloth.
Together we would empty bottles,
crank up the music, push
the furniture back.
I would iron linen napkins,
put the leaves in the table.
roast two fat chickens,
bake a chocolate cake.
If this were my last day,
I would surround myself with good friends,
disparate souls, my rag-tag family.
We would repeat the story
about grandma misplacing three
sets of dentures, cry
when we learn morphine
didn’t ease the pain, debate
soap bar versus washcloth.
Together we would empty bottles,
crank up the music, push
the furniture back.
Just before midnight I would look
each one of you in the eye, confess
that even thought it’s my last day,
you, in your own way, have saved me.
I love the shift to second person in the final part of this poem. Makes the reader feel implicit in these sentiments.
You really tugged at my heart. I wonder what I would do?
Kelly’s poetry is always so moving. She is certainly a up and coming poet in NC. Keep an eye out on her work.