Memory haunts
Microwaving coffee
My ex-boss says
90 seconds is perfect
Filling ice cube trays
Jake says
For Christ’s sake, fill them all the way up
Taking a bath
Grandmother says
Dry before getting out
I say “I am done”
Mother “Only turkeys are done –
You are finished”
When I travel, Uncle Jack says
“Kiss a pretty girl for me”
Drinking alone at a bar
I hear Uncle Edward
“Be good and you will be lonely”
Manager leaves the pitcher in too long
Father says “If he had a brain, he’d take it out
And play with it”
Voices from the grave
Haunt every day
THE POETRY OF THE GAME