The Funeral Party, by Margo Davis

The Funeral Party

The deflated patriarch turns                 
          his incongruous crimson tie

and downcast gaze away from 
          what has become     

his expanding pale-faced 
           family now that his brother’s 

passed. The two men hadn’t been  
           close since his brother 

wouldn’t made good on his 
            loans. The wife has a mouth 

that stirs up trouble with Maud.  
            The dim son, an uncoupled   

brake van, studies his tomboy 
            sister as if bemused by this 

game he confuses with dodgeball. 
             And who’s that removed  

woman, hands buried in pockets, 
             gaze confronting us head-on? 

Her soft grey coat stands out among 
             baggy glum sacks 

funereal black. What secrets 
             would she divulge in a pub?     

Death will exhale its foul breath on 
             every soul, yes, whether 

robust, boozy stout or 
              broomstick sober, small or 

jousting with the sun. Yet off-guard  
             we remain, gobsmacked  

by this visitor who makes                 
             no bones about dropping by.     

Don’t we prefer the Reaper appears 
             unannounced, only                

to discover it’s poppycock,  
             this being the wrong house 

or circumstance, poor timing, or a
             bleary bender. Then exits 

with neither child nor adult 
             whimpering like one beneath 

its muscular unflappable reach, not 
             even the anxious barking 

hound granted a brief stay 
             of execution by the pound.

Margo Davis

​This poem was inspired by the L.S. Lowry painting, The Funeral Party. View it here.
​
When not walking off the isolation blues, Margo Davis immerses herself in the arts. Recent poems have appeared in Deep South Magazine, 50 Give or Take, Ekphrastic Review, Snapdragon, MockingHeart Review, & Odes and Elegies: Eco-Poetry from the Texas Gulf Coast. A three-time Pushcart nominee, Margo's forthcoming chapbook will be published by Finishing Line Press.