Everything you could ever want-Riley Flynn ‘23
We can never get enough, but what I find most fascinating are those who already have everything. In this painting, made with watercolor, gauche, and paint pens, this regal woman is almost naked, but still pampered because she doesn't need to do anything herself, and she has become numb to it. Would you or I get numb when we get everything? If so, why do we want so much?
i went to my first funeral yesterday.
mama let me borrow her black dress and jc penny wedges.
i combed through my hair,
detangling it’s two-day-old knots
and the mulling on my mind
he was my grandpa’s brother.
the second youngest of four.
we called him uncle mickey—
im still not sure of his real name
ive only met him twice in my life:
the first was at a chinese buffet
the other, more recent, in his own home
in the sticky Pensacola woods
that day, he still wore his same suspenders
his oversized, square-framed glasses
his boy scout leader cap
but all i could focus on was
the oxygen tubes lining his cheekbones and meeting at his nose
his funeral was at a church.
rubber duckies and m&m’s
decorated the seats
he was known for gifting the plastic ducks to people he met, i later found out.
three speakers went up
they spoke of his life.
his quirks.
his dreams.
he seemed to be a good man.
two hours later
my family left with rubber ducks
and empty wrappers in our fists
it was an odd feeling—
grief for a man i never really knew.
Funerals in sticky pensacola
This is an unorganized spew of thoughts and emotions I felt after leaving my first funeral. Grief is an unusual feeling, and I've recognized it ranges from person to person.