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