The Death of a Local Child

Heroically, the small boy did die

one summer in the cold afternoon

when black evergreens one-upped

deciduous buds reeling from hale;

That being said, it had been a milder

winter than the usual New England climate

allotted.  He was a strong boy and never

picked on his wispy sister nor pulled

his father's nostril hair. Survived by a

WASPian mother who, although proffered

a hunger strike, managed to shed a healthy

post-traumatic ten pounds by never saying no

to a grey goose martini, six olives nix onion.

He was survived by a national headline

that mounted his brave head on the wall

of the local respiratory society: here lies

an early bud that ripened in frost.

JULIA ISTOMINA was born in Moscow, Russia and moved to the United States in 1990.  Her poetry has appeared in The Cortland Review, PIP Gertrude Stein Awards Anthology 2005/6, Green Integer Review, Big Bridge, Shampoo, and Ars Interpres, and her essays and reviews have been published in Rain Taxi and the forthcoming Jacket 34 and Salt Magazine.  Her first book, a "thriller in verse" has recently been picked up by Ars Interpres Book Series.  She received her MFA from The New School and currently lives in Inwood, New York.