Obit

by Victoria Chang

The obituary writer said the obituary is the moment when someone becomes history.

The way we assume all tears taste the same. The way our sadness is plural, but grief is singular.

The way grief needs oxygen. The way every once in a while, it catches the light and starts smoking. The way my grief will die with me. The way it will cleave and grow like antlers.

Is a stem with a bud considered a flower? A bud is not a flower but a soon-to-be flower. No word exists for about to die but dying but even dying lacks time in the same way a bud lacks a timeline.