Family Reunion (A Funeral)

Sarah McMahon
2 min readMay 14, 2024

This is the second poem in my recently released book Dirt Girl. You can find the entire collection on Amazon here, or find the audiobook on Chirp here.

family reunion (a funeral)

the men drink whiskey and Coke

from Styrofoam gas station slushy cups

so they can die while they’re living

roast a hog over open fire

and complain that the ground is dry

because the sky is dry

because God doesn’t care about the little guys

they discuss gas prices from lifted pickup trucks

spin their keys in their fingers

one | two | three

sigh and say it’s just another cursed day

and the hog slowly spins

while the women fuss

over potato salad and carrot sticks

you could say we’re living

a little bit less than we could be

if only we looked up

at that heartbreaking blue

a sky so endless we get lost in its depth

and my mother knocks a cigarette

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