Sean Jacques

The Mortician Died

An odd death,

he’d slipped and fallen out of his tub

and conked the right side of his temple

onto the edge of the toilet rim.

They say no one knew he was dead

for ten days. Wasn’t till Lyon Brooks

went by his house after calling

about funeral and burial costs

for his wife’s cousin’s boyfriend

who died in a terrible car wreck a week ago,

and no one was answering the phone.

Lyon Brooks said he smelt something awful,

and ran over to the sheriff’s office

with word something didn’t seem right.

They say that one deputy,

went to school with my boy,

Wyatt, believe he’s name, is the one

who found him there on the floor

next to his toilet.

They say no one seemed to notice him

missing, or sick, or anything wrong

but that might be as no big surprise, I mean

who really wants to go visit a mortician

less you have to? They say he didn’t have

much friends, wasn’t married, no kids

anybody knows of. They say

no one ever seen him with a woman

of any kind.

Still what is more peculiar

than the way he died

is they say he never left any plans

on what to do with him

when he did die. You’d think

if there was a somebody who

would make plans

for when he died,

it’d be a mortician.

17 March, 2021