by Kathryn Eberly
Six floors up, no income,
too sick to work and
it’s metastatic in the lungs now.
Just like that
no more housecleaning
under the table
easy breezy life
sweet sweet guy
and he has 1-2 years tops.
He’s worried his smoking
gave Peanut the Beagle
cancer but even now he can’t quit.
Both of them
too tired to walk
up up up
those stairs
can come back to haunt you.
Kathryn Eberly is a poet and former eligibility worker in San Francisco. After living in the Bay Area for many years she is now a transplant to Bangor Maine.