[the Writing of Kuypers]
we couldn’t stay long
it was twenty-one weeks
I drove fifty-five miles to the hospital
and now that she stopped the failing treatment
so after she’s been out of the hospital
and she leaves tomorrow
but she’s leaving for home
I can’t guess a number
but they’re only numbers
so she leaves tomorrow
away from me
so call me selfish
I’ll take every minute I can get
[JanetKuypers.com][Bio][Poems][Prose]
Every Minute I Can Get
drove seventy-seven miles
to see my mother for twenty-seven minutes
but I wanted to see her once
on her last day in town
before she dies
since I have been to her home
which was ten weeks
since she was in the hospital
for six weeks
in her first round of chemo
during both of her rounds of chemo
two rounds of chemo was enough
for my mom to know
for thirty-three days
I don’t know, maybe eight am
less than sixteen hours from now
so she can relax before she dies
on how long she’ll live
I can only tell you the numbers
of her red blood cell
and white blood cell counts
details about the hemoglobin
I could tell you her platelets are up
but now that she’s leaving,
that’s all I have left
one thousand, three hundred
seventy-six miles,
six blocks
but I’ll settle
for seventy-seven miles
one more time
even if it is to only see her
for twenty-seven minutes
Copyright Janet Kuypers.
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