It's drafty in here!

For Mark

We needed this.
A casket the remainder
Of absence.
He was gone before
The body stopped.
That hyena cackle
Was not him. A ringed coffee
Stain on the kitchen
Table on the tip of his nose
Not him.
A damaged screen door
Twined rosaries not him.
There was a radio,
The charade of basic human
Interest. A belt, a dollar
Bill, a cigarette, a brother.
Not him.
These things describe us.
They are what we needed.
A prayer card. We needed this.
A will. A group home. A
Reason. We needed this.
He was sick.
The medication he
Never swallowed we
Swallowed it. Someone
Had to get better.
Someone had to survive.