somethings dead

(its our cockatiel—corky)

he died last week at the old age of 15

unfortunately i killed him (accidentally) by sitting on him while i did not know he was tangled in my blankets

finding him and realizing what i had done was hard

i had taken pictures of him in recent times (not knowing those would be the last images of him)

its like the pay telephone downtown—we took pictures of it when we saw it and then one day it was gone (removed by mcdonalds probably—it was on their lot)

no more pictures of the pay telephone

no more pictures of corky

they both leave an empty space in our lives

and they make me think (what about when one of us dies)

its hard when people die

i know it will happen again

a person leaving an empty space

then someday it will be me who dies

ill leave an empty space and some people will notice

itll be like the absence of corky—hes not climbing around on the couch—hes not chirping throughout the day

its quiet

the bird has stopped singing

there is no pay telephone—just an empty space

just nothingness and memories and records are all thats left

before corky died (the day he did) my wife and i went to the pet store and bought bird food—and i took this picture

long live corky !!