Nicole Yurcaba’s most recent poem to appear here was “Dancing to Aerosmith in my Underwear” (February 2019). 

When My Father
By Nicole Yurcaba

When my father asks me to build
his coffin, I am 31. When
he requests a hand-carved
wooden box for his ashes,
I am 31. When he tells me
Spread my ashes in Ukrayina,
I am 31. When my father
announces “Death—it’s
what we all face,” I am
31. I am 31. I am 31.