A procedure like nap time
I didn’t know I
needed to get it into me,
doing everything
exactly the way they said.
My body was not surprised.
Her body already
knew as if she already knew.
throw them in the wash
throw them in the wash
always knew the end before.
This was respiration. It began
before the end. They said
they often died
when they were sleeping.
She knew before.
It felt like dragging
a river. I cleaned out
her mouth then gave her a clean,
wet cloth to suck on.
we totally loved the idea
because it was so horrible
it made us understand shutting
down, to know of
our world less and less, to know
we could not understand or go.
She was going without
us. You could roll them out
easily to where they’d burn
our hands and feet on the smooth,
flesh-polished wood.
