Adele Evershed
Waiting for Death
The morning I think I'm dying / the sky is a layer of chalk / like a cure for acid
reflux / and a maw of possibilities / pound in my pulse/ my ghosts are always with
me / and after the blood letting they lean in / their list of ills / as long and as hard to
say / as that famous Welsh village / drummed into my backstory
After Googling my results / I know enough to make up a story / with no clear
ending/ cancer like my mother/ a stroke like my father / but not old age like my
Nana /she lived to be ninety-nine / they weigh me / they always weigh you / even if
you're there for an ear lavage / and I think it doesn't matter now / all that cake I
went without / all those long boring walks
And when the doctor walks in / she asks if I'm there / because my test results /
show I have high cholesterol / I shake myself like salad dressing / and feel all my
layers emulsify / I tell her I thought I was dying / that one of the results could mean
/ bladder cancer / or she says / more probably a UTI / then she tuts and says / stay
away from Google / and puts me on statins / like everyone else I know
The afternoon I know I'm not dying / the sky is as white as ice cream / like a cure
for a broken heart / and a maw of possibilities / pound in my pulse
Bio
Adele Evershed is a Welsh writer who now lives in America. Her prose and poetry have been widely published in journals and anthologies such as Every Day Fiction, Grey Sparrow Journal, Shot Glass Journal, Anti Heroin Chic, Gyroscope, and Janus Lit. Adele has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for poetry and short fiction and Best of the Net for poetry. Finishing Line Press published her first poetry chapbook, Turbulence in Small Places. Her second collection, The Brink of Silence is available from Bottlecap Press and her novella-in-flash, Wannabe, was published by Alien Buddha Press in May.