It’s funny the days my brain chooses to miss you.
Some of them I expected,
Christmas, Easter, Fathers Day,
However, I didn’t expect to be ready to cry before my cousin’s wedding
Today he is reading his vows, but eight years ago he was reading your obituary.
I didn’t expect to miss you at my eighth grade graduation, thanking my family in my speech.
I knew they could hear me in the crowd, but I hope heaven is close enough that you could too.
Sometimes I am jealous of my younger self, a little girl who was oblivious to the life cycle.
Immune to grief.
The only death she has experienced is her dog’s,
But that girl grew up.
Now she knows death, has become familiar with it even, but it never gets easier.
That little girl sits up at night now hoping there is sound in heaven,
Hoping Papa can still hear her.
Maria Polizzi is a sophomore in high school and though she hasn’t submitted her writing in a while, she’s never stopped writing poetry. She writes poems to articulate what she is feeling in the moment, and hopes to continue doing so. She also dances, and enjoys spending time with her family.