Elf and George K.O. Chaney

By Craig Kirchner

PROMPT—I am grateful for ...

I get a phone call from The Baltimore Sun

informing me of my grandfather’s posthumous induction

into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

I get an invite to a meeting of the Baltimore Chapter

of the Veteran Boxing Association.

I call Elf to see if he would go with me to the meeting.

The pugilists convinced me that I needed

to drive to Conestoga, NY and accept the award,

that they would all be there.

On the way home from the meeting Elf asked

where George was buried. I told him Parkwood Cemetery,

but that I could not remember ever having been to the grave.

He said we needed to do that. We drove up Taylor Avenue

to the section of cemetery google said it was in,

after an exhaustive search we never found it.

As we were walking around scrutinizing names on markers

I realized there was not anyone else in my world

that would have even suggested doing this,

let alone trudging through this quarter acre of dead

like it was uniquely important to him,

because he thought it would be important to me.

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Craig Kirchner is retired and living in Jacksonville, FL because that’s where his granddaughters are. He loves the aesthetics of writing, has a book of poetry, Roomful of Navels, and has been nominated three times for a Pushcart. Craig's writing has been published in Chiron Review, Main Street Rag, The Wise Owl, The Wilderness House, Journal of Expressive Writing, and dozens of others. He houses 500 books in his office and about 400 poems on a laptop; these words help keep him straight. More about Craig can be found on Bluesky.