William Cullen, Jr.

Standing by Your Grave
on Your Birthday

How noisy birth is with the new born bawling
as if it already had a foreboding
of a quiet place where the grass is always cut
and the leaves are always raked away
so one could read its name
and its birth date as clearly
as one could
through tears of rage.

The author’s poetry has appeared in *82Review, Allegro Poetry, Concis, Right Hand Pointing, Star*Line and previously in One Sentence Poems.