Severe advanced disease. She heard the phrase
with dumb surprise – she didn’t understand
her case to be so bad. Just sixty days
ago she learned the first of it: two grand
she spent on scraping and it made her ache
annoyingly. Three times that sum and weeks
of pain she’s now been told the job will take
to give perhaps the remedy she seeks.

Impatiently she learns a new routine
with time-absorbing implements and tools
of blood and pain. She thought a brush would clean
her mouth but didn’t comprehend the rules,
until he touched her cheek and with a squeeze
consoling spoke the words “severe disease.”