why I wrote my first living will
it was not the way a tube was jammed
into her throat like a drinking straw
shoved through the plastic lid of a frozen malt
it was not the last remark
she scribbled onto the message board
because words were unavailable
it was how her hands were tied
to the stainless-steel bed rails
after they took away her black marker
[i]* For Carol Elaine. Originally appeared in Stirring v3e10, written under the name Kit Sullivan[/i]
