Jacob A. Bennett
An Elegy for Malachi Ritscher

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Malachi, born Mark David,

wrote his own obituary. “Reportedly,”

he says, “his last words were

rosebud...oops,”

but what he means

is that he lived his life

like a saucer-faced magnolia flower,

a quick burst of bloom and

perfume early each spring

before the pink things wilt away,

falling to the fiery asphalt

...