Send flowers to Rhodes, 
Greece, where it storms all of January 
and memory is lodged in the hillside

evil eyes dangle from necklaces 
to scare away the dead
who fly over the coastline like drones

and off each ear lobe
five eyes the number needed
to see the ways that love will end

imagine if in death we could
flee with all the wealth we could carry
dressed in the jewels and silks of catacomb saints

crowns with gold filigree
and tiny pearls as faded as ancient teeth
bleached coral smile to match

the hot light of love
death’s icy fingers
is there anything else to life?

Send flowers and dirty pearls
and anything else
we can bury in the garden

…

Tristan Foster is a writer from Sydney, Australia. His debut short story collection Letter to the Author of the Letter to the Father was published from Transmission Press.