Yoda Olinyk

 
Death Bed Art 

Sitting by his wife’s bed—she was dying—Monet 
noticed her skin blooming into a brand-new shade 
of blue.  A blizzard of gray and white and purplish-blue. 
As she choked         her        final       breaths,
Monet fled to retrieve a canvas. He painted her final
moments. His wife. Blue. On her deathbed.
Some say he missed                     

                                        her death

because he was busy painting it— 

                        but I think he was as close
                        to it as he would ever get.

A Pause, A Sprint

rain fills my shoe or maybe
blood. in another dimension,

i just take the shoe off and slip
past the crack on the sidewalk

my skirt stays put and i go home
to eat nachos with all of my friends

in this dimension, i quit
drinking years earlier

i save myself from all those gross
college boys, except for that sweet

one named gavin—the one with thick
rimmed glasses who kissed me and said

i guess i’m in love. or was it me who said 
that? the next morning in his filthy bathroom

mirror. why else would i fall into the trench
of a man after nine glasses of homemade wine

if it weren’t for love? why else would i wear
a skirt so tight i couldn’t run? 
 

Yoda Olinyk (she/her) is a writer, editor, and workshop guide from Canada. Her work has appeared in many journals, and she is the author of two books. website

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