You Text Me Your Grief I Send You a Gif

James Croal Jackson

The meme I choose is two

different species of bears

give each other a hug oh what

a shackle in the storm, the window

in the wind as your father dies

you ask me for advice I think

– I’m not good at funerals.

Still, the appleseed. Bears

hugging in our distance.

What more word

is there to give? This

gif the pitchfork tuned

into melancholic

meat. You say your

father is broccoli

and I can’t gush

of the trees a kind

of mental gum.

I want to console better,

a little heavily,

when I close my eye

lids a nostalgic melody

of rice and potatoes

and an animal inside

me wanting to be called

delusional– a dandelion

in February– if I call

you on the phone

the words (what

words) will fall

like feathers.