Catriona Shine
Not Now
Everywhere I ring
they tell me the same story,
that the woman who usually prepares the bodies
is sick,
that I should tie her mouth closed with a silk scarf
before she stiffens,
that they can make the trip out one time only
and will have to take her straight to the graveyard,
that they are sorry
but this is the wrong time to die.
Catriona Shine is an Irish woman who lives in Norway, designing space and putting words in order, usually in the form of novels, short fiction and haiku.