Dialysis

by Eileen Patterson


Mother the body you carry is worn out.
The dialysis washes away the waste, but you are weary
from all the years of life. The 16-year-old’s sweet dreams
turn bitter in your mouth.
This is not my life, not what I imagined.
You long for the afterlife taught to you as a child,
You believe in a heaven where bodies resurrect,
made whole again, where father might be if God
is as good as you think.
But God gave you stones, not jewels your entire life.


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Eileen Patterson lives in in Cudahy, Wisconsin. Along with fellow poets she has read her poetry at the local library. Her work has appeared in Underwood, Bombfire, Medusa’s Kitchen and Darkwinter.