Colors by Susan Tepper

Tell the secret of your death
before you forget
turning off lights and
sleeping through the best parts
the way a dog sputters then
leaps up happy upon waking—

You saw a lamb
not slaughtered
and other beasts of burden
reminding you of
candy at a fete
The colors—
a burned out garden
no one seemed to notice

Susan Tepper is the author of nine published books of fiction and poetry.  Her most recent titles are CONFESS (poetry published by Cervena Barva Press, 2020) and the road novel WHAT DRIVES MEN (Wilderness House Press, 2019).  Tepper has received many honors and awards.  She’s a native New Yorker.  www.susantepper.com