the juxtaposition

                                                by Rob Plath

my uncle told me that
when he was 3 years-old
he used to nap with his
grandmother all the time

then one day she suddenly died
in her own bed
of a heart attack
it was 1939

back then they had the wake
in the house

he told me that relatives said
that he had dropped
his bottle into the casket

and then tried to climb in with
the body because he wanted
to nap with her

he doesn't remember that part
trying to nap with the corpse

but it caused everyone present
to begin loudly weeping

the milk droplets from the bottle
that dripped onto the coffin's lining

the small boy's fingers on the pine edge
his attempting to throw a leg up
over the side of the box