The Death Workers (NY Times headline 6/18/2022)

Ed Ahern

I have killed animals
and gutted their bodies
since childhood.
I have witnessed those
held dear as they died,
mourning after death.
But I have never
processed the dead,
beloved or unknown.
I could, I think do it,
but know not how to
handle their souls.

Ed Ahern resumed writing after forty odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He’s had almost four hundred stories and poems published so far, and six books. Ed works the other side of writing at Bewildering Stories, where he sits on the review board and manages a posse of nine review editors. He’s also lead editor at The Scribes Micro Fiction magazine.