Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
All cemeteries are cancerous.
The parasitoid and the predatory eat prey
from the inside out.
Your grief has no space in a decaying heart.
My rot is my lot, my last hurrah.
It is an honour to return to Nature. Remember
the life – not the trigger, not the crack of death fire,
not the powder residue on guiltless hands.
My body is a nobody.
Even if reduced to ash, it fertilises.
It serves its purpose.
It is not merely fodder for this weeping.
It heeded Mother Earth’s calling.
The soul is not a hole in the ground.
My absence is still a presence.
I will always, always be around.
First published in Chewers by Masticadores, USA
