Afterlife

You made pentecostals laugh

Long enough to suss them out

Believing you were bigger than small talk

Changed medications twice

Curbed the pull of suicide

But lost in the bottom of the ninth

To a walk-off

13 years old

The first time you saw snow

Some freak fluke off the coast of Corpus

Ran away at 15

But came home on Christmas Eve

Your dad bought you a ticket

Right back to Houston

When it’s time to go,

I wish I could say

I knew for sure

The difference between born again

And buried alive

Either way,

You’re famous enough

For an afterlife

Off the wagon more than once

But no one thought you’d given up

A closet full of two-piece suits

In every color

When I finally conceded,

Believed enough to be leaving,

You were just coming around

To the idea

This could all work out:

Waging war from the couch

Melting shell and gun

Into nail and hammer

For the great rebuilding

Of the way this never has been

But nevertheless

Gets misremembered

When it’s time to go,

I wish I could say

I knew for sure

The difference between born again

And buried alive

Either way,

You’re famous enough

For an afterlife

Man, I guess

You’re famous enough

For an afterlife