Chris Nold Memorial Fund

Andrew Davenport is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

"The world lost a poet and a dreamer. We lost a friend."

Please consider a small donation to help Chris's loved ones with posthumous expenses.

"...for now I'll let Chris's words guide the way."

FALL RISK

~for the Big Man. for Dean Paras. but also a little for myself~

“This is/always the case./Wherever I am/I
am what is missing.” ~ Mark Strand

She made the joke casually at the party,
that everyone in close proximity to me is now
warned that I'm easy to fall for.
Out of polite necessity I laughed, spilling
the birthday cards I was handed upon
entering the room. And it was then that
my friends discovered the hospital bracelet,
worn long past its relevance, perhaps for
icebreaking purposes. A yellow ring hangs
from my wrist, indicating I'm a “Fall Risk”,
reminding me that at any moment
my refrain of “Fuck Death!” will become moot.

There will be instructions to append my 1st
collection of poems with their
corresponding photos
and pass out handwritten, bootleg
copies in the streets like
apologetic propaganda.

I'd like a bridge named after me as well,
anywhere, to commemorate the efforts
I put forth in this sliver of time
to bring together those who were
unable to prior to my arrival. I have a
perpetual need to be needed.

Jokes of my own fail. “Bury me at Makeout
Creek when I go”, I'd say (we never did
round 3rd towards home).

Never forget: you can't spell “funeral”
without F-U-N.

And there is a field in central NC where to
spread my ashes. A field that houses a
band of American animals, brothers born to
run in the USofA. As cubs, learned to howl
& hunt, and now everyone is finding some
one or thing to handcuff themselves to.
Though now the lanterns that once lit the
road ahead, heavy with fuel, burn dimmer
& hang lighter.

At the Rising we wept, but knowing that
through tears sits a path, and I will toss &
dip & dance & tip until we find it. The dead
revel amongst us as a telling reminder that
our respective ends speed closer at a slow
velocity, but with an enormous cacophony.
Answering back into the discordance, I
bellow my phrase, for I am in love with all &
with life.

(forever proud.)