ill of the dead

We should have funerals
for the living

starting oh,
age thirty or so, every 10 years
and then when you get to 67 maybe go
to every five. People will come, dressed
up somber, and with you in attendance (sitting
in a nice, red, velvet upholstered teak throne
-like chair where the casket would be)
(will be) and they
can fucking eulogize you now!
before it's too late. Everybody get up and say
all the nice things they won't ever say to your face

Cry and get it out of our system, vent such things
upon the living. Then when you actually do die,
and it's too late to hurt your feelings -

we can all speak more frankly.