Poems for Persons of Interest

Felicity Teague  features regularly in  The HyperTexts ,  Snakeskin , and elsewhere.  Her second collection,  Interruptus: A Poetry Year , is forthcoming in 2025. Last Requests He greets me with his usual half-salute as I approach the summit of the hill. It’s winter, but he’s in a linen suit, the type he wore before becoming ill. I call, “Hi Grandad!”, slightly out of breath from climbing and from carrying the things he asked for just an hour or so from death: some ice cream, and his dressing gown with strings to keep him decent. Hospital was grim, but now we needn’t talk about the ward. We sit together, sing his favourite hymn; up here, we must be closer to the Lord or what it is that brings me once again to grant his last requests, so far from pain.

Bethel McGrew  is a freelance writer based in Michigan. Her articles have appeared in various national and international outlets. Find her Substack at  furtherup.net . The Warriors' Chapel   At night, I climb the stairs of Calvary To read the names carved in a sacred space, Now only names to you, but oh! to me, They summon up face after fading face. My incense of remembrance starts to rise, And once again I smell their blood in pools. Again my anger takes me by surprise. What savages we are, what bloody fools! I dug their graves in sun, in rain, in snow. This was my task. To do this much, at least. To walk the miles of stretchers, row on row. To bear a lonely light. To be a priest. And even now, I hear the endless cry, "But will I die? Sir, tell me, will I die?"