Not the Only Thing

photo by James Crews

Not the Only Thing


This grief is not the only thing

in the room. There is a bed,

a chair, a glass of water, lip-marked

around the rim, proof that you

are here. There is a window,

and beyond that, tiny white blossoms

called asters after the distant stars

they resemble, now opening

at the edge of the woods. Don’t say:

Yes, but they mean the end

o…