On Little Feet

Death doesn't come
in an instant; rather,
it creeps in, a series
of smaller moments.

Some believe we
start to die when
we crown, before we've
inhaled more than
meconium, but I think
we start to rot when
we no longer want.

Prompt: death

I've already written several poems on death. Enough already. Let's hope tomorrow's prompt is about daffodils or some such bit of sunshine.

Peace, Linda

Bookends of a Life: II

Only the steady thump-thump of the hissing machine, valves pressing and depressing against your will, remind me you are here. Like you, I dress in white; like you, many patients call me angel and I guess I am, administering to their wounds and sighs and bedpans and now, ministering to you, embellishing the chart with your vitals, watching you waste to a shrunken, wheezing vessel. The clacking ventilator reminds me of the ice cubes rattling in your highball the nights I nagged you to stop, your hands jittering between the glass and the cigarette, but your yellowed fingers stabbed and twisted the butt into ashes, proving you did not love me - enough. You moan and turn your withered face to the weak gasp of winter sun bullying its way through the window. It’s only a matter of time, I rationalize, and fiddle with the tubing, adjusting the flow. The morphine races down to the catheter in your wrist and I wonder: Mama, did I love you enough?


Originally published in 6S: Volume 2, 2009.

Peace, Linda

In Memory - Lost Words Virtual and Cyber

My Dell laptop. Six years of faithful service. This morning booting resulted in nothing but a grey, quiet screen. No signs or symptoms of impending demise, just a peaceful death.

Something nudged at me this Saturday, though; I did a complete backup onto my external hard-drive.

Gotta listen to those gut feelings.

ALSO IN MEMORY - my original blog. Google gobbled it up one day, with no warning. Apparently old code, still lurking in my html and counting away my doomsday unbeknownst to me, was the mal-icious bearer. Reimported much here - looks familiar, hunh? - but lost widgets: lists, followers, contacts, all my creds.

SO PLEASE UPDATE YOUR URL, just add "linda-" before the old name. [linda-leftbrainwrite.blogspot.com]

And please - FOLLOW ME again and pass along your links in comments below if I've overlooked you.

Peace, Linda