Enter Home Planet News Poetry of Issue #5                         Page 40
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Times Removed

My good friend cut down a suicide,
hanging insider of a neighbor’s house.
I believe he was available and near
that day, so the perfect choice to witness

the post-end of that soul and body whose
neck must have been ringed red by a rope
or bruised blue by a belt and whose other
attributes I must imagine since I am only

reporting my buddy’s task and effort
so blocked by his body of work, which I
certainly laud, but do not envy even though
his senses must have taken in the original

with its necessary inscription—sight, feel,
and smell. I take only the seconds or even
thirds, for memory further buffers, miles
weaker and safe from the self-closing.

  John Zedolik