Poem - In Residual Memoriam

This poem was first publish in "Avoid Ninja Stars" by Bank Heavy Press. 

In Residual Memoriam 

With the end of any old year

comes the swarm of official and

unofficial video montages of the

scores of celebrities, movers, shakers,

athletes (good and lousy), writers,

actors, plenty of those damn actors,

who decided to leave

this realm of the living

for one

more obscure

I watched one online today

and fifteen seconds in

before the first black and white

picture faded in

a series of ads popped

on the bottom of the frame

anti-aging cream

pills to fight memory loss

and a veterinarian to the stars

“Do the agents still get

the standard fifteen

percent

of this action?” I thought

I’m not up to snuff

on how the union handles this

Naturally not everyone who kicks it

in a given year

makes it to the final cut

I suppose even in the end

it boils down to who knows

who

and who represents

who

Because a gig is a gig

and no one is this town

works for free

never