This Stage of Life

One friend is dead and another might be losing it.
I’m afraid she’ll lose it in my kitchen.

Should I insist she bring her doctor’s phone number?
Should I insist all my friends bring their doctors’ numbers?
Should I keep the list with my cookbooks?

If she loses it does that mean I have to find it?
Am I the only one who still has it?
Where in my kitchen is it?
In the fridge with the margarine?
Maybe running out like the margarine?
How much of it must I have?

Marion Deutsche Cohen

This poem was, unfortunately, inspired by an actual adulthood-long friend of Marion D. Cohen's. This friend has lately been what we call "a stranger" (as in "don't be a stranger"). Marion's email address is mathwoman12@gmail.com and her website is http://marioncohen.net.