When I die
When I die, I want it to be just slowly enough
that I can leave something to those I cherish:
my recipe for chipotle sauce, a lily or two,
perhaps some worldly pith on love, or booze.
When I die, I want it to be just slowly enough
that I can share my pique, my morbid shame,
the regrets of a life lived bursting, straining
at its bounds and yes, complicit and bowed down too.
When I die, I want it to be just slowly enough
that I can go into the nothing grasping a handful
of this gloriously shitty earth, cocking a blasphemous and
unhappy snook at your piety and grace.
Charlie Hill is a writer from Birmingham. He has written two critically acclaimed novels, a novella and a pamphlet of short stories. His poetry has appeared in the magazines Under the Radar and Prole and the webzine Ink, Sweat and Tears.