I’D LIKE TO PLAY DEAD by JB Favour (Day 2 of 31 Days of Poetry)

Day 2 of the KSR 31 Days of Poetry 2023: The key question is what would it be like to play dead? Read on as we follow JB Favour asking vital questions on those things that we hold dear on earth and our perception of what we hope to learn of people's stance towards them.

I like to imagine sometimes what it would feel like
to play dead and poof! …be gone.
To watch friends remind themselves of how much they miss me
and to see how my family would adjust to the loss
to hear gossips and crazy speculations of what may have caused my demise
and to hear my loved ones cry over a shared photograph.

I’d like to hear them tell others about me
the kind of person I was
the light or darkness I brought
the pride or shame they feel.

I want to hear their funny accounts
of what would now be past memories
and how quickly or slowly they would start to mix it up.

I want to know if my clothes are disposed quickly
and traces of me are erased rapidly.
I’d like to see if all the things I wanted to be are acknowledged
or if it all was futile
my passions, my goals, what I would have wanted.

I’d like to see if anyone remembers
the trivial things like my favourite snack, my best shoe and a song I liked the most,
I’d like to see if these things mattered to anyone
and if those who made promises to me kept their word.

I’d like for one last time to see how slowly or swiftly the world would move on without me
and maybe – just maybe it would be enough to help me realize when I wake up
that life goes on and is as much as you get
but that being truly happy is a life fully lived.

JB Favour is a Ghostwriter and Poet who has helped several authors ghostwrite their memoirs/autobiographies, fiction, and nonfiction books with some of her works being produced into film. She is the author of a mini anthology Once Upon A Virus, a survival poetry collection of the Covid pandemic that rocked the world. Her other works have appeared in The Newcastle Review UK, Brittle Paper, Lion & Lilac UK, Intellectual Ink Magazine USA, Agape Review and elsewhere.