A Generic Tragedy

A mother cries her predictable tears

Robotic fathers cradle dead children in metallic arms

Creators invoked, paradise referenced

Hail Mary's grooves deepen with each repetition

The priest’s daily schedule gets a little busier Organists' automatic fingers type Schubert's Ave Maria Florists work overtime

God’s name, chewed with such frequency

Becomes bland as cheerios on the tongue

Grief’s jagged edges buttered by cliché

Muffins and casseroles left on doorsteps, doorbells un-rung

Wives lament the sudden absence of husbands

Husbands return to empty kitchens

Searching drawers for their wives' hidden spatulas

Tears flow along well-worn canals

Candles lit for prayer vigils in televised gardens

Politicians register condolences on their public keyboards

The vocabulary of sorrow is narrow and prescribed

Editorialists plagiarize each other's policy analysis

The pop song's refrain resolves, as it always does, in a V-I cadence

Cardboard words of comfort Regurgitate from mouth after mouth

Then silence hung out on thin wire hangers

All of us, perusing the morning newspaper

Spread across the kitchen table

While stirring the cream into our coffee

With dirty spoons