Christine Shook

Waiting

When the tumors spread, I will be safe in Calvary, a hospice in the Bronx. Letitia said it was a very nice place. I imagine shushed hallways with lightbulbs in the shape of candles. It might have been an old monastery with cells slotted into a concrete wall. A pallet made of straw. Nuns carry keys within their habits. The intention is to die without pain, without turmoil. I have looked to death as a waiting room between incidents of loss. Hurt feelings. But the dying takes place while living. A salesman automatically gives me a senior discount. The walk today cut short. But this time, I won’t have to start over.  

The doctor
presses my belly
does it hurt?
an unsteady rhythm
beneath his chill hand

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About the Author

Christine Shook lives in New York City and has been writing tanka for over 20 years. She studied with Clark Strand, author of Seeds from a Birch Tree. Her tanka appeared in Ribbons and tanka prose in Haibun Today.