We\u2019re sitting in her kitchen,
the topic of the day:
how long it took for her father to die.
He almost outlived the hospice,
the nurses, the doctors,\u00a0
the insurance company\u2019s patience.
It\u2019s raining hard outside
and in our conversation\u2019s pauses.
She reckons it always does\u00a0
when she brings up the old man\u2019s name.
Her mother went in a lightning flash.
But he chained himself to breath and heartbeat
like some protestor at the White House fence.
She can\u2019t understand why,
His pain was relentless.
A stroke took half his face,
made mockery of the rest of it.
He lost a leg below the knee
and most of his skull\u2019s contents.
Our chat goes on and on.
It\u2019s always that way when she\u2019s
describing a man who went on and on.
I finally have to leave.
And procrastinators die when
there\u2019s nothing left to postpone.
We hug just as the rain stops.
The sun comes out like the living do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by John Grey We\u2019re sitting in her kitchen,the topic of the day:how long it took for her father to die. He almost outlived the hospice,the nurses, the doctors,\u00a0the insurance company\u2019s patience. It\u2019s raining hard outsideand in our conversation\u2019s pauses.She reckons it always does\u00a0 when she brings up the old man\u2019s name.Her mother went in a… <\/p>\n