 |
 |
Volume XX – The Memorial, Part 2
When we arrived
the proceedings began.
Nothing is a coincidence.
We briefly
met the family,
a cousin, his wife,
and two kids
from Nevada.
Just hours away ...
had they known.
A couple weeks passed
before L.A. County
could find anyone
related to The Judge.
He had left his home
in Buffalo
early in the eighties
after leaving the service
in seventy-nine.
His name was never
J.T., John Taylor, or
The Judge.
It was Ed.
Here’s one
I never told ya
J.T.,
the brother
my mom lost
before I could meet him –
his name was
Uncle Ed.
Hence Isaac Edwards
the fake name
I made up
to live with my
writing self.
The Judge
loved the fact that
the main character
in a book about my life
had a fictional name;
I never knew
how much, or why.
The body
(John / Ed)
wasn’t present.
Everyone felt better
about that.
A couple of us
in the room,
Jay “Cupcake” and I
had gone
to collect John’s
stuff from the hotel
where he lived.
The manager
told us about the
clean-up
that took place
in his room,
and the employees
he had befriended
that couldn’t go near
the door after
he was found.
I forget the priest’s name,
Irish dude,
did a great job.
His priest-friend, John
had just committed suicide
in the old country.
Father Ed, who was
supposed to do
our John / Ed’s service
had flown overseas to
attend to the family.
It was timely.
The Church communicated
the emotion of the room.
We were all lost in the names.
It reminded me of my most recent
attempt at reading the Bible.
I had started, of course, at the beginning –
I mean, it Is just a book.
"Oh! Don’t even try
to read Genesis first,"
I was later told,
“you’ll get lost in the names."
I remember thinking
the world would never
see peace,
all these people
killing themselves
quick and slow,
we can’t even get along
within our own selves.
We steal vital pieces
of our lives
and fuck ‘em
down the toilet
The surreal
exploded
when the Priest admitted
he was formerly
a drinker, one
who couldn’t control himself.
I sat in my pew
and watched
an admitted
ex-alcoholic priest
deliver eulogy
for a guy
who drank himself to death
while
the father originally
scheduled for the service
was on a plane
because another guy
had killed himself.
Nevermind the fact
that the other guys
were named Ed
and John and so was our
John / Ed and it was difficult
to figure out who what was going on or which
John or Ed the Priest was referring to
as he talked.
The whole thing
just kinda
boggled my mind
and I wanted to go home
but it ended before I left.
Click here to read next Volume.