A Poem For Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Picnics didn’t cease
when the dry pavement
became coated in mash.
Former life trickled
and mixed with it
while the cops
tried to figure out
what happened.

A fat lady with a pretty face
claimed a deer ran into
the path of the truck carrying oranges
so the driver swerved to miss it,
hitting the Budweiser truck
and forcing both off the road.

The cop took notes while the paramedics
placed two bodies on stretchers.

The Lincoln arrived on the scene
And the coroner jumped out.
“They’re dead,” he said. He handed the EMT
some papers, signed his name and headed back to his golf game.

“Let’s get this highway cleared,”
said the cop, kicking a few broken Bud bottles
off the pavement.

“What a waste,” said a man
in a dingy Monster truck t-shirt.
“What a waste.”

“Yeah,” the cop agreed,
picking up a broken Bud.
“Let’s get this highway cleared.”