"a month into quarantine (mano po dalawa)" by J.C. Rodriguez by VOICEMAIL POEMS

I’m this close to robbing a butcher shop just to get a big-ass meat fridge
to hold lolo before he becomes 8 mounds of ash while he’s cold maybe
the medical examiner will call reporting that he died believing I’d never left
time goes in the meat fridge too maybe that will slow how we all process
maybe my family members can chill the fuck out for a second
& stop calling my mom for answers they could’ve saved their breath for
& we’d still have so many calls to make but at least we can stop calling morgues
& funeral parlors only to be told they have no more spaces for bodies
& maybe when his body chills I won’t have to see my family
& we won’t just hug when someone dies we just won’t hug at all
& we’ll hug the meat fridge instead so we won’t have to stomach
my grandpa’s lonely eyes freezer burned with orchid dew we can tell him
pa look everyone came to see you please remember our names one last time

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J.C. Rodriguez called us from Westbury, NY.

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