Close to Death

  by Adrienne Dyane Lewis

The day I almost electrocuted myself and you

asked how much life insurance I had,

I knew it must be over. 

How else could you joke of money

with my hair still wiry from the voltage.  Your voice turned

the subject, brushed over the fuzz

standing up all over my body, the red flesh

on the palm of my hand.  My wedding ring

looks no worse for wear

but a current ran through it, interrupted

its structure, changed forever our composition.