My Daughter Wants to Cremate Me
My daughter wants to cremate me
but I am resisting.
She wants to scatter my ashes
here and there.
I tell her I don’t want to be burned.
She laughs and says that I will die
and won’t be able to do anything
about that event.
My wife intervenes, wondering why
I would deny our daughter this pleasure,
as if this event were the most normal thing in the world—
to suddenly decide to be cremated
at the whim of a child.
My daughter also likes going to bookstores,
just the two of us,
and I keep her company for hours,
listening to each other’s music,
having intense discussions about writers
I’m sure neither her friends
nor even her teachers
know about.
She bakes cakes and cookies for the family,
she takes beautiful little Polaroid pictures
with a camera she got two years ago
for Christmas.
We watch far too much TV together
while she wants to burn me.
She laughs and says she’d be happy
to perform this miracle while I’m still alive.
My daughter is very amusing
and I’m sure she loves me,
so I convince myself she’s only joking.
I think that’s for the best.
