Aimee Grunberger

Instructions Found in a Safe Deposit Box

Get the chapel at Brown, remind them of all
those pledges and donations.
Promise a new squash court if you have to. Name
the squash court after Charles Bukowski.

Call all my friends, but only the relatives
I would see voluntarily. Everyone brings food and booze.
Prepare for a blizzard or nuclear winter.

Let the rabbi say Kaddish then get him the hell
off the stage. Better yet, get a rabbi impersonator
from Trinity Rep and have him do it.

Only the artists and bikers can dress in mourning.
Let whomever wants to get up and tell a stupid or funny
story about the deceased. Go ahead and cry.

Cremate the corpse, and bury the ashes in an herb garden.
Play all my appropriate 45’s.
I’m a Believer
96 Tears
Paint it Black
very loud, get drunk and dance. Tell the neighbors
deep mourning requires it. Make them feel guilty for complaining.

No one leaves till after breakfast the next day, sort of
like the senior prom. Listen up now: do not exclude children
from this celebration. There’s nothing like a good party.

–Aimee Joan Grunberger
Aimee Grunberger died of breast cancer at 44