MY FOUR-YEAR-OLD ASKS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE DIE AND WHEN I HESITATE SHE ANSWERS HER OWN QUESTION
First they wake up on the day they’re going to die
And they pack up all their clothes
And they say goodbye to their mama and goodbye
To their daddy
They go to a different state and find a nice empty
House that’s quiet and a good soft bed
And they lie down.
—from Rattle #42, Winter 2013
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Tina Parker: “I kept my first poems locked up in my third-grade diary. They said mean things about my big brother, and I knew they could get me in trouble. I was hooked.” (www.tina-parker.com)
