8/30 - Dead Email Office

Here’s what we never had to do before:

Delete the email addresses of the dead.

Before sending out some mass mail

go in

by hand

and hit:

Remove Email Address

francEyE

Irene

Lee

Jack

And on.   Some young, some old.

You could leave them

but then you just get an auto-reply

as

Undeliverable

which is unnerving

You could think the ether is calling

these bits and pixels to them

that they parse this binary without tongues

or brain stems

that they miss you electronically

You could

I could

Delete them permanently

From my address book

not have this problem.

I don’t.

I seem to prefer to be reminded

That they lived

That they were

That they meant and shared

I see Irene’s red hair and

Sad but laughing eyes

and remember

Not to take it all so damn personally

It is not about me

or even them

it doesn't always work out

we sometimes love harder

and longer

than is good for us

but loving is what keeps us in life

We are here shorter than I stand

we are meant to reach out in that time

create electricity between

it is how we hold each other up

then go

leaving that trace of energy

to pick up sometimes

in a picture frame

a poem

or nuveau@pacbell.net

franceye@marinasplace.com

irenec@lpcast.com

c. e. amato

4.11