The Ashes

Poetry day 31/31

Photo by Mitchell Maglio on Unsplash

When you spread ashes
on the Washington coast
there’s going to be blowback.
It can’t be helped. The wind won’t
rest here. I would suggest
you bend down close to the water
and do your best to pour
what remains right into the waves.
Still, you won’t be able to avoid
a little mess. My mother did her best,
but the grains that were
once my grandmother stuck to her wet legs
and not everything washed out
with the first…