2/13

today i went to the park to see the gates.

i walked the paths familiar to me from childhood and ended up at the great lawn.

last may my brother and i chose 3 different possible benches to dedicate to our dad. he was cremated and we had scattered his ashes around the central park reservoir (where he ran almost every day) but we had never created a permenant memorial for him. since the park was one of the places he loved the most, it seemed appropriate to mark his life here.

it hadn't been in my mind to investigate and i had no idea whether or not the plaque had already been installed but as i walked towards the grouping of benches that we had considered, i wanted to know.

but every seat seemed filled,
and which was the bench that we had actually gotten?
how would i even see if it was there?
ask everyone to move?

but as i got closer there was one seat free
one where no one was sitting,
and it was his...