I Used to Think I’d Be a Good Mortician
by Caitlin O’Halloran
I used to think I’d be a good mortician, that if I could only study the person after death, I could reconcile the soul with the body. If I could pinpoint the parts of the anatomy where the person once was, and witness what remains once the soul has left, I might know what it is to live a life. The body, no longer needed, a bird’s nest left empty. The hatchlings have all grown up and flown away.
Caitlin O’Halloran is a biracial Filipino-American writer living in Rochester, New York. Her poetry has been published in literary magazines, including ONE ART, Lost Balloon, The Metaworker, Spinozablue, and Panoply. Her fiction has been published in Twin Bird Review. www.caitlinohalloran.com