Sleek
Jade Kleiner

Grandma’s shuddered,
held up by tubes and veins,
crying and ending,
my sister and I very normally
waddling into her hospital room.
 
The doc was too calm.
His dress shirt too unwrinkled,
his skincare too good. He should
have shown the tumor some fear.
 
Orcas are these sleek killers,
death comes easy to them,
they work it with each other
under the ice, whistling and clicking:
 
water, whale,
teeth, blood,
absence,
eventually
the wake gone too.
 
After she died I slept in her bed,
I don’t know why - I fell asleep
like a scared squirrel
who didn’t eat enough
to last the winter, I didn’t dream.


                                                             ~ ~ ~
​                                                                                                                JULY 2026