So many years,
so many brains —
a collective think.
Gathering strategy:
how to unlock
silence
deadlock
bottleneck?
Find a way to breathe life
into words
about death
For a young woman
with advanced cancer
her canvas stretched taut
by an insistent wind
no tack offers a curve
that brings relief
Our need to know
Her hopes
Her wishes
Her plans
should her dreams
be dissolved
by invasive cells
Decision?
Incision?
CPR? DNAR?
Home?
Here?
Where?
Her room — barren
where she lies stripped down
to a blue gown
The thick air
parts
an opening made by the question
She finally asks of another
an-other
The woman who
each and every day
takes away her tray —
kitchen staff.
No skill
No training
in anything
Medical
is the chosen one
Asked about choice
in this dry land
that holds no buds
where bad choices form layers
much as geologic strata
only reveal their history
over time
They talk
Of life
Of death
Of God
Aside
we wait for words
that would have us
carry her deeper
on dark paths
like pouring sand onto desert
Or
Instead
for words that would allow us
to lift her,
a winged escort
to help her sail home
Footnotes
Gerri Frager is the author of Signs of Life: Images Formed from Words and Clay.
This article has been peer reviewed.