2022 Issue > Poetry > Water and a death certificate
“Pamet, 2018, acrylic on camouflage fabric, 34 x 26 inches"
by Richard Moninski
Water and a death certificate
Kelsey Bigelow
Deceased’s Name
Kimberly Irene Haug
It’s said that water has memory
and I’m rarely thirsty
but today my mouth’s a drought
begging for life to return
How did Momma’s diet of Capri Sun
cola and coffee never remind me
to live hydrated
Cause of Death
Multiple Myeloma
Kidney failure and a flatline
should prove the need but
it’s said that water has memory
and sometimes you don’t
want to remember the seizures
faintings or pill cases
Date Last Seen Alive
November 15, 2014
but today I’m desperate
I take a sip from the glass
of the stale water on my desk
feel its cool clarity clear my throat
and hear her plan to buy flavored water
when she got out of the hospital
not knowing the next day
she’d leave
Time of Death
11:15 AM
It’s said that water has memory
and maybe that’s why I don’t drink it
Kelsey Bigelow is a professional poet who graduated from UW-Platteville in 2017. She has since self-published her debut chapbook, Sprig of Lilac, in 2018, released a spoken word album, Depression Holders and Secret Keepers, in 2021, and has been published in Backchannels Journal and Z Publishing House. Find Kelsey: kelkaybpoetry.com
Trained as a painter, Richard Moninski makes work that explores the systematization of nature, the decorative impulse, the choices between representation and abstraction, and the history and culture of specific places. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited nationally. He resides in Mineral Point, WI.