(Reflections at Qing Ming)
Upon death
ashes and urn
shoved in a box
stacked above and beneath
other boxes
Cubby holes
where relatives remember,
burn incense,
sweep, pray
Like a flat
stacked above and beneath
other flats
where a life is
lived out
Shelly Bryant grew up in the US, but has spent her whole adult life in Asia. She currently splits her time between Shanghai and Singapore, sometimes teaching English literature and sometimes learning Chinese language. She loves to read, write, travel, and cycle. Her first poetry collection, Cyborg Chimera, was released in October 2009, and her second, Under the Ash, is due out in late 2010. You can visit her website at http://web.me.com/shellybryant