Laura Sheahen

DIRECTIVE

I have never liked boats am prone
to seasickness

am repulsed
by the curled lip of the ferryman
his fingers clutching coins
slimed by saliva

then too
there is much to be said
for changing one's mind

and so
River Styx
I should greatly prefer
a footbridge

or failing that
with grey eels and pale fish
I will learn how to swim
through your oil spills

the hospital machines
shut down
the green line on the screen
stops jittering

in the middle of the river

I strike out
I decide
which shore

Laura Sheahen's poems have appeared in MiPOesias, In Posse Review, Margie, Orbis, and other publications. She works in humanitarian aid and is currently on short-term assignment in Darfur.