Paul Barclay

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In Remembrance

“one more galldarned meal
over and done with”
mrs mcgillvery used to say
she had a family of mcgillvery sons
and no daughters to feed
and in those days
the men did what the men did
and the women did everything else
which mrs mcgillvery did
on her own
“another galldarned meal
over and done with”
she repeated
three times a day
till she died
she might have dined with jesus that night
in a place where the meals fixed themselves
or perhaps jesus served his guest bread and wine
in heaven the food’s even good raw
i’ve heard it said
“to die for”
whatever it was
i bet that meal tasted good to her
and if she chanced to look down
from her seat
that night
mrs mcgillvery would have laughed
cause
at her funeral
someone else cooked the meal
someone else cleaned up the mess

 

Paul Barclay is an ex-pat Canadian poet living in Seoul, Korea. A collection of his poems, Creole, was published by Pachyderm Press in Winnipeg. His poetry can also be found in a variety of online publications.