Flowers when you're dead

in a bucket-Union Square SF florist

who wants flowers when you're dead? nobody.

J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye

That's right.

Nobody.

I don't like those funeral wreaths

and huge formal things on stands

artificially arranged in a cross or a heart 

or who knows

in white

or red and white

with maybe a big ribbon that reads

Beloved Aunt

or Dad.

No.

Better that you bring me poseys

and bouquets 

now

nosegays picked from garden

dew still on petals

Yes

bring them now

while I can exclaim over them

while they can catch my eye

a burst of color on a counter

or shelf

No.

I really, 

really 

don't like funeral arrangements.

I think they should add a checkoff box to

Advanced Directives

that says

No Funeral Flowers

That's what I think.