Death Across the Coasts
NOVA and CA, 2008

 
I call my office
To learn
That she’s on her deathbed
She who got the funding for my position

Her cancer
Won after all
I call her home
Speak, between tears
With her daughter
About whom I’ve heard so much
From Sally
As we bundled seedlings in the sunshine
One more action
That she’ll never be able to do

I cry alone
In my car
Along a nameless road in Berkeley
I saw her only a few months ago
Not knowing
That would be the last time that I hug her

In the afternoon
I sit in the flower garden by endless roses
Waiting to meet a friend
We share Ethiopian food
And drive in his open convertible
Icy wind fighting the heat of his vents
Into the Berkeley hills
Overlooking the stars and lights
We chat
Laugh
Live
As she dies

That same evening
Many miles away on the other coast
Without knowing
Sadness sits within me
That night
As I fall into an early deep sleep
On his air mattress
He strokes my hair
My face


I miss her funeral
Don’t even send a card
Although I know her spirit cheers me on
As I dance along the edges
Of cliffs overlooking the ocean.

 

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