On Finding Your Ashes In My Suitcase by Nicole Tallman
CW: Death
I think you would laugh if I told you,
your urn exploded somewhere
during my flight back to Miami.
And when I got home, I found you spilled
your ashes all over the inside of my luggage.
Actually, it was your luggage—
the Liz Claiborne zebra print carry-on
with the dragon fruit interior.
The flight was oversold so I was forced
to check you in your luggage.
What kind of monster
makes a grieving daughter check her own mother?
Nicole Tallman is the Poetry Ambassador for Miami-Dade County, Associate Editor for South Florida Poetry Journal and Interviews Editor for The Blue Mountain Review. Her debut chapbook is forthcoming from Southern Collective Experience Press. Find her on Instagram and Twitter @natallman.