The Funeral by Jessica Schouela | Really System: Issue Seven

The Funeral

Jessica Schouela

I've never done this before,
nothing similar even that I can think of.
They didn't tell me how to prepare
to pour dirt over your body,
when you served me cantaloupe and pistachios
every Sunday, from the day
I learned to chew.

We asked many questions.
They said ask God not me.
We said we weren't sure
if we were "believers."

What do you believe in then?
The Internet, Fruit.
Channel that then.

I tried not to make this about me,
about self-esteem
or even about the world,

I tried to be small
so that the Universe could gobble me,
swallow me whole.

Jessica Schouela is from Montreal and is currently pursing her MA at UCL in Art History. She is based in Edinburgh and has been published in The Emma Press (forthcoming), Metatron, The Quietus, and Squawk Back, amongst others. She writes a blog called Cabbage Moths Lay Their Eggs On My Kale.

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