Mourning Ritual Cento

between my ribs, somewhere:  
   fluxes of heat and carbon,  reefs of sky, ships  
      whose names have long eroded.  

we wore ourselves weary during  a summer squall, 
   the waters rising —events preserved 
      in  root-bronzed water.  graves everywhere 

so many shades:  deep blue skull,  old milk tin,  lingering green 
   below the wake.  we bury our history  
      in the obituaries  and the moon river.  

people live underwater.  the Asian monsoon 
   and global climate change  hammering away 
      at the biology.   all these ghosts pressing in—  

i don’t know how to write this. 	 i’m still looking 
   for that damn piece of paper.  	i wish i had read 
      more.		i wish i had read 	every single word.    

the sky blue-hot–  	hot enough to make my eyes water.  	
   i am able to write
      less and less.  		 

 the silver river cracks:  
   the hare in the moon  		stumbling on the stair,  
      oars loose in their locks.   
	
listening 	   to the slow creak,  		we stood	
   in a rolling sea, 	         stars		    like tiny handprints  					anchored to a billion years. 

---

1. Sister, Eliza Edwards “Orchard” ↩︎
2. Dad, R. Lawrence Edwards “Ice Age Terminations” ↩︎
3. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “On the Bluff” ↩︎
4. Sister, Eliza Edwards “They call you she, without a name” ↩︎
5. Aunt, Deborah McDonald “The Agony and the Agony” ↩︎
6. Mom, Missy McDonald “Kitchens and Community” ↩︎
7. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “Spring Song” ↩︎
8. Dad, R. Lawrence Edwards “Ice Age Terminations” ↩︎
9. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “The Heron” ↩︎
10. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “Anniversary Three Thirty-One Ninety-Four” ↩︎
11. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “Bright January Day” ↩︎
12. Mom, Missy McDonald “Isle Royale Food” ↩︎
13. Sister, Eliza Edwards “Rowboat on Open Water” ↩︎
14. Sister, Eliza Edwards “Haibun” ↩︎
15. Aunt, Deborah McDonald “The Agony and the Agony” ↩︎
16. Sister, Eliza Edwards “Haibun” ↩︎
17. Mom, Missy McDonald “Think Creatively: The Future Problem Solvers International” ↩︎
18. Dad, R. Lawrence Edwards “The Asian monsoon over the past 640,000 years and ice age terminations” ↩︎
19. Aunt, Deborah McDonald “The Agony and the Agony” ↩︎
20. Sister, Eliza Edwards “Haibun” ↩︎
21. Aunt, Megan McDonald “The Sister’s Club” ↩︎
22. Aunt, Deborah McDonald “The Agony and the Agony” ↩︎
23. Sister, Eliza Edwards “Haibun” ↩︎
24. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “Bird Hill July” ↩︎
25. Aunt, Deborah McDonald “Tamari” ↩︎
26. Aunt, Deborah McDonald “The Agony and the Agony” ↩︎
27. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “Bright February Day” ↩︎
28. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “Spring Song” ↩︎
29. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “Requiem” ↩︎
30. Sister, Eliza Edwards “Rowboat on Open Water” ↩︎
31. Sister, Eliza Edwards “Mora, Minnesota” ↩︎
32. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “On the Bluff” ↩︎
33. Aunt, Megan McDonald “My House Has Stars” ↩︎
34. Grandfather, Richard Edwards “On the Bluff” ↩︎

Read more from Issue 22.1.