CAN I GET A LIFELINE?

-to my husband, nearing transplant, 2022

Why do we sleep, dream, and age? 
Is there life on other planets? 
After death? The bog people preserved
in peat—were they criminals or victims 
of human sacrifice? Will the courts find
the big chemical company guilty
of emitting deadly ethylene oxide, 
into the air, of knowingly sacrificing
communities for gargantuan profits?
What’s the deal with chronic hiccups
in chemotherapy?  And remission, 
what is its sound? Like the music
of Mardi Gras? Or like butterfly flutters?
From what country hails our donor, 
and where will we meet? Will we?
Is there an ark? When will its doors close? 

Jo Taylor is a retired, 35-year English teacher from Georgia. In 2021, she published her first collection of poems, Strange Fire, and in 2024, she published her second book, Come before Winter (Kelsay Books).  She enjoys morning walks, playing with her two grandsons, and collecting and reading cookbooks. Connect with her on Facebook or at https://www.jotaylorwrites.com/ .