I had thought the tumors

on my spine would kill me but

the tumors on my head seem to be

extraordinarily competitive this week

For the past twenty or thirty years

I have eaten the freshest most

organic and colorful fruits and

vegetables    I did not drink    I

did drink one small glass of red

wine with dinner nearly every day

as suggested by The New York Times

I should have taken longer walks but

obviously I have done something wrong

I don’t mean morally or ethically or

geographically    I did not live near

a nuclear graveyard or under a coal

stack    nor did I allow my children

to do so    I lived in a city no worse

than any other great and famous city    I

lived one story above a street that led

cabs and ambulances to the local hospital

that didn’t seem so bad and was

often convenient

                        In any event I am

already old and therefore a little ashamed

to have written this poem full

of complaints against mortality which

biological fact I have been constructed for

to hand on to my children and grand-

children as I received it from my

dear mother and father and beloved

grandmother who all

ah    if I remember it

were in great pain at    leaving

and were furiously saying goodbye