What do you wish they might say about you when you die? I was horrified by the headline for football player Lou Michaels in the New York Times … that prompted this poem, published today on Rattle.com, After My Friend Phyllis Shows Me the New York Times Obituary Headline: “Lou Michaels, All-Purpose Player, Dies at 80, Missed Kicks in ’69 Super Bowl”
As far as process goes, I was curious how the poem began as a rant, but by the end, I felt mostly humbled. Oh poetry, how I love what it does to us. I want to mention that the quote in the poem is from Wayne Muller, and if you want to see more of his incredible work, I took the quote from his book “A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough” (Harmony, 2010).