I found out you were gone from a
Facebook post from someone who you
didn’t even like from high school.
I had to look up the obituary
online myself to make sure it
was real. I saw your name on
the news, in the articles, in
the video of them pulling your
crushed car from out of a
ditch and back on a bridge.
I couldn’t help but picture you when the
blown out airbag and spiderweb glass
fracture were zoomed in by some
camera man and held in his frame.
When I search your name, the snapped
cable wires and bent guard rails are the
first things that pop up on Google. Not
your senior picture or you in your band
uniform or the you from my memories
held on a flash drive in my drawer,
frozen in both life and time. I’m not sure
how I would have preferred to find out
you were gone but
maybe something
more tasteful.
Maybe something not
crammed between
personalized ads and click bait
outrage.
Something a bit less digital and
algorithmic towards the human loss
of my friend.
