Wendy BooydeGraaff’s

poems have been included in The Shore, The Elevation Review, About Place Journal, Plainsongs, and elsewhere. She is the author of Salad Pie (Chicago Review Press/Ripple Grove Press), a children’s picture book. Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, she now lives in Michigan, United States. Find her at wendybooydegraaff.com or @BooyTweets

 

Funeral of Lost Things



A letter from my mother, sent  
but not received. A diamond,

 

loosened from its prongs. A voice,  
once lovely, now raspy, uninspired. Toss

 

this mishmash of the lost in a shoe  
box. Dig a hole. Hold a ceremony

 

alone.           Speak words over what  
you will not see again. Fill the empty

 

nest. Cover the lid with soil, tamp
down with seeds from the garden.

 

Leave it alone, these small deaths.
See what rises in their place.