Rough Waters
My friend’s husband breathed life
through her cooling lips
until paramedics took over,
shot her with epinephrine,
raced to the hospital
to hook her to life support.
The drip of the IV,
beep of the monitor
were not a victory song.
Her daughter brushed her hair,
painted her fingernails,
picked out a red chiffon dress
for travel down the River Styx,
swore the coins she found
tucked into palms
weren’t there before.
About the Author: Robin Wright lives in Southern Indiana. Her work has appeared in As it Ought to Be, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, One Art, Loch Raven Review, Panoply, Rat’s Ass Review, The Beatnik Cowboy, The New Verse News, and others. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her first chapbook, Ready or Not, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2020.
Image Credit: Arthur Bowen Davies: Ocean Swells Public domain image courtesy of Artvee
As It Ought To Be 