A Prezi for the departed

 

The mourning template has a pleasant face—

It melds inviting blurs of voicemail clips,

Stray photographs, the downloads from the dead.

 

The face becomes our starting point. We click

This eye to follow one loss down, from who

(We hear the wedding speech), to what (the plane,

 

The cancers), to the living. Quarter-turn:

We trace the mourner’s path from boom to now:

Our view pans over impact statements, blinks

 

A flashback like a strobe across the page—

And then we bounce, yanked forward to the next

Departed, all the g-force metered out

 

To give that first-day kick, the next years’ drag,

And drift us to “conclusion” at the end.

Oh Prezi, logo-shirted Virgil, steer

 

Along these rails and never stray: for if

These dead are not yet ours to mourn, this dance

You lead, so briskly guiding hands and knees

 

In painted steps along this path, is one

We all start from the floor. Your glib bright hand

Is what we have to grab to follow on.

 

September 2014

© Joshua Jacobs