Collaborative Poem

—For Maureen Seaton (October 20, 1947-August 26, 2023)

I want to write this poem with you, but 

you’re dead. You said death wouldn’t stop us, but 

I don’t know. What if you lower your vibration and

we try this one word at a time? What if it’s a game?

Kind of like exquisite corpse, but you no longer have 

a body. I write the word rose, and you send me sunflower. 

I write purple, and you send me orange. It’s fall, your favorite 

season. Your birthday is 4 days away. If you were still here, 

I’d send you something sparkly. I’d send you a line for our poem. 

I’d write, I love the cold snap we have today in Miami. And you’d 

write, I love when the sun melts the snow. How do I know this? 

I don’t know for sure. But I think I still know your voice, 

and I want us to finish this poem.