He died New Year’s Day
due to a heart muscle
that turned to fat.
He held on
for seventeen years
after his real death
which took place
on a Boeing 747
somewhere
over North Carolina.
A buxom stewardess
bent down
across from him
and he felt nothing.
Instead
he hoped the ice would last
through the remaining flight.

He died
New Year’s Day
and those
who came to his home
carried the weight
of the previous evening
like overloaded porters.
The sight of them
would have
pleasured him
to no end.