1

Quote normal unquote is
A funny word,
Because it’s been said
So many times
That normal
Feels more normal
Than normal.

But quote normal unquote
Is less what Webster
Or King James
Would have you believe,
And more like the
Eulogy
In the paper
That nobody reads.

Quote normal unquote
Concerns less the
Tip-toeing of days
Like the last ounces
Of water
Down the drain,
And more the

Being pulled from bed
On a sunday morning
And told to pack a bag.

And without warning,
That life is now gone.

2

Amy dies
Within weeks,

Out the revolving door.

Mom cries
And wonders aloud
Why it wasn’t her.

So you turn up
Your headphones,
And keep the normal
Moving
In the room
At your aunt’s.

Quote normal unquote
Is a game
Played at night,
To pretend that the
Dying,
Spotted lungs
In the room next over
Have no coughs
That keep you
From sleep—
And no tar-black leg
That reeks of
The death
That wants him
And will have him.

3

Am I a monster?
That I feel no grief?
Yes, 
There’s a pain—
But for me,
Not for them.
Do you know it?
Not the pain
Of death,
Or of loss—
Not at all.
Do you know the pain
Of failing to lift a
Bloody, breathing body
From the floor,
And feeling nothing
When the stretcher
Pulls it away?

I returned my eyes
To the bright noises
And loud colors,
And left for practice at two.

4

No tears fell
For grandpa.

Not from mom,
Nor from aunt,

Out the revolving door.

5

Quote normal unquote
Is a house that is loud.
Whether it be
The coughs 
Of a man
Who died
Decades 
Before he was buried,
Or the women
Who could not stand
The sight of
The mirror
So much
That they yelled
At each other
In its stead.

And the thoughts
That ring around
Your head!
Like tinnitus.
Is it 
Quote 
Normal 
Unquote
To wish
That mom would
Die
Too?
To wonder:
If she went

Out the revolving door,

Could you go
Home?

6

My aunt is gone now,

Out the revolving door.

And mom still wonders
How Amy died.
How it wasn’t her.

How I wish
I could hold 
Her face,
And make her
Feel
The delicacy
Of grandpa’s
Breathing body
On the floor.
How frail he was;
How frail we are.

The fear
Of hurting him
Held me
From lifting
Him
From the ground,

And I cannot help
My mother
In just
The same
Way.