Tristan Robert Lange
The Acceptable Ways to Die
Reader advisory: This piece includes themes of suicide and grief.
No one loves a suicide.
Judgments come in
D
E
E
P and W I D E,
Delivering shame,
Stripping dignity,
Exasperating grief,
And robbing recovery.
Yet,
Everyone loves the game,
Not by name—
Though it’s always the same.
Pick your poison—
Coffee and tea,
A remedy for peace,
Provides high anxiety.
Have a little beer or wine—
Fine—if by a little one means
Once in a while, not all the time.
And the answer is yes,
Needing to have it every day
Is all the time.
Oh, and then there’s speed,
Not like caffeine,
But the kind found
On Route 80 anywhere USA.
Memorialized by flowered crosses.
No one loves a suicide,
Unless it is their’s to commit.
They judge and shun and
C
o
n
d
e
m
n
To hell.
Before ringing their own bell—
Seized, clogged,
Clutching their widow maker.
© 2025 Tristan Robert Lange. All rights reserved.
Tittu