she was shriveled

once so strong and imposing

one look and you stood straighter and minded your manners

now she was half the size

a quarter of the weight

all loose skin and wires

the room smelled like shit from the bag half hanging off the bed

a clear tube with brown piss oozing into another bag

three different drips into her arm

a tube in her guts

oxygen hissing into her nose

all they needed was a machine to blink her eyes

she wasn’t there

she’d open those rheumy eyes every once in a while in confusion

then the time released drip of something hit and they sunk closed before she knew what was going on

i shouted this was no way to live and to unplug the goddamned machines and let nature take it’s course

the old hag would live just to spite us, you’ll see

she fight and fight and eventually call us all sons of bitches and ask for a cigarette and the remote control

complain the room smells like shit

and hack as the smoke resaturates her whithered old form

but no one listened

just watched the line jump up and down slowly

listened to the constant fucking beeping of alarms and who knows what

it’s no way to live

the machines doing everything while you shit and piss into bags

she raised five kids alone

let her go with some fucking dignity

if i ever get to this point

if i haven’t already popped a blood vessel in my head, the one that throbs when confronted by stupidity

or my heart hasn’t exploded

just unplug me

use tongue depressors to keep my arm up and middle finger extended and push me into traffic

at least then i’ll finally know why the morons keep slamming their brakes

she doesn’t deserve this

the part of her still trapped here that is

i’m sure somewhere she is pissing off an angel about his posture or it’s too cold or hot

this shell isn’t her