George at Whitby
The steans at Whitby fight the dirty dust
with epitaphs of Righteous, Upright, Just,
Gone to His Reward, A Loving Spouse.
(It never says to whom outside the house.)
Angels chirp their noisy hope for dawn.
Cherubs flash their cute with privates gone.
"To tell the truth," says George, "on many stones
the Here lies even lies. Those people drowned
far out at sea and left no ground their bones.
I killed myself to leave my mother care.
Because my mind was fixed and my heart clear,
Dracula favored me and chose my mound
as his first English Dracula-Slept-Here
of all our lowly mansions underground."
By John Milbury-Steen
John Milbury-Steen has published in more than two dozen online and print journals. In his former lives, he has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia and an artificial intelligence programmer in computer based education. He currently teaches English as a Second Language at Temple University, Philadelphia.
