ISSN: 1941-4137
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
Rachael Inciarte is an American writer living in Spain with family, and the author of the chapbook What Kind of Seed Made You (Finishing Line Press). Rachael’s work has been nominated for Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net and features in Poetry Northwest, Spillway, Salamander, Nimrod, and others.
Previously in Glass: A Journal of Poetry:
boys on the rock
May 7, 2025
Flower Arranging for the Dead
1.
Don’t be tempted to ignore color
when arranging flowers for the dead.
Popular choices include chrysanthemums
and marigolds. Red carnations. Poppies
can be a bit political but oh,
they are dreamy.
Think of the mourners, and think
of the mourners, apart from yourself.
Read the room. Read
into these symbols of Sorry
for your loss. If you can,
weave a basket
suitable for suturing. Sturdy and capable
of holding soft a heart.
2.
It’s nice to think of bodies
as a failsafe. We can come back
a turtle homed in another shell.
Or a sea snail, sucking algae
from the side of a glass tank.
I, for example, thought
I wanted to return
as a beeping synth,
until
I thought again.
3.
It is normal to feel
wonder — do jellyfish ooze
when they freeze?
Dendritic arms askew and bellies
bloated, bursting levy
of cell walls. Genetic goo,
like so much water
stiffening and
becoming ice.
4.
My daughter also wonders
about death, what it looks like.
Does it hide in the darkness
between blinks?
5.
I couldn’t fathom before
my body
without
myself inside.
I wished to die
as Snow White did,
clutching fistfuls of petals
under glass and unbothered.
Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published weekly by Glass Poetry Press.
All contents © the author.
All contents © the author.
