Poem by Maureen Oehler Durant, poet and OKWP alum

Arrangements
​
Somewhere between the kitchen bar, Easy
Go, and Huddle’s Funeral Home, my sister
got drunk. She parked her car next to mine, sucked
spiked diet Coke from a Styrofoam cup,
and her glazed eyes gave her away. Christ, I
thought, here we go. No point in coaxing her
to stay behind, shaming her DNA,
rehab reruns, or our Irish mother’s
disappointment, so I took her hand and led
her inside the cool dark where another
sister swayed on the foyer’s red shag like
an aging ingénue caught cruising bad
neighborhoods for weed. Click, paparazzi.
The undertaker and his wife—always
a family affair this business—led us
away from the chapel to the office.
So sorry for your loss. Cup of coffee?
My drunk sister browsed bookshelves, overturned
mementoes looking for value as if
browsing a swap meet. I wrote a check
for the down payment, the showroom entry fee


to the Costco of caskets. My swaying
sister stumbled between coffins, pressing
her hands into satin, fingering price
tags like a timid teenager trolling
the Buick dealer. She wanted the white
Cadillac with Crucifix tailfins. Not
that one, I whispered, Ma was an Irish
Prod, for Christ’s sake. My drunk sister
began yanking at the silver-plated cross
to customize the coffin. She grabbed
lifeless Jesus in her fist, twisted
Him until He broke free and sent her
stumbling backward, holding our dear Lord
and Savior above her head like
a home run ball caught in the upper
deck. We froze in a fairground sideshow
tableau vivant. My mother’s voice
pounded in my head, Don’t be a fool
and I wondered if I should haggle
the price of damaged goods or just run.

"Arrangements" is from Maureen Oehler DuRant’s debut collection, Skirmishes on the Okie-Irish Border. Click here to view Maureen’s author page on her publisher's website. 

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Skye Spears (middle), Teacher of the Year, Eisenhower Elementary School (Norman) and former graduate of OKWP!
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Joshua Flores, former Director of Secondary Language Arts Education for Oklahoma.

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