We are followed by the spirits of the ones who went before
We are accompanied by ghosts
My dog was distinctly in our house for a few months after his death
I felt him, in his usual spot on the floor
The ceiling fan spinning above us
I was grateful for his company
Maybe he was the closest being to me
to pass on;
I don’t feel as pursued by spirits as my father feels
There was my great grandfather first
I was four
I expected him to be resurrected and reunited with my great grandmother soon,
I assumed it would be around the time I was eight-
That came and went like too many dry summer sundays
Spent in primary where the adults assured us
We were a special generation
And we would be witness to the coming of a new world
This fed into my belief that the resurrection
(Naive, too hopeful) was nigh
There was my great uncle
He french braided my hair for many a Pioneer Day
I entered puberty and became suspicious of him and
Everyone else of the male gender
But he took me clothes shopping for shorts because
I didn’t have any during the one Summer
I spent a week at his house
-These two gestures solidified my love for him.
He was found in his truck not long after he separated from my great aunt
I cried
There was my dad’s high school friend
Who visited our house in her strappy dresses
And hand-made hair fascinators
She spun fire in a circus
And she sewed elaborate costumes
I first met her at the funeral of my dad’s high school best friend
I sat next to her on the wooden mormon pew and felt
Her immense capacity for love
Her deep, overflowing heart impressed me at my tender age
And I loved her with all of my child’s heart from them on
She was going to visit again at Christmas
She got pneumonia
We still have the fascinator she left
Hanging on a nail by the window
My great grandmother left her mortal body
Last Sunday
The first thing I thought was
She and Bompa are together again
If there is an after life
If there is a just creator
He has not yet been resurrected to us, my great grandfather
I sent her, my mimi, a card and a print I made,
A few months ago
Shortly before her birthday party.
I hope she got it.
