As If There Is Meaning

by Marcia J. Pradzinski


The hospital elevator dings and delivers me
to ICU to my mother stroked comatose

I step into her room            my legs hesitant  heavy

as if 
her dying body weighs them down
and she doesn’t want me to see her
motionless     drained of energy

the very energy that fueled her hours ago
to bake a batch of blueberry muffins

as if
she knew her family would need nourishment
after seeing her body           lying stone-still

I walk to her bedside to fix
the crumpled sheet

my fingers skim the back of her feet
her toes reflex up and down

as if
to say
good-bye


* * * * *

Marcia J. Pradzinski is the author of Left Behind, a chapbook released by Finishing Line Press in 2015. Her poetry has been published in various journals, anthologies, and online websites. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in RHINO, Sonic Boom, Your Daily Poem, Origami Poems Project, Aeolian Harp Anthology 6 of Glass Lyre Press, and After Hours.