Instruction Manual

                                -after Brittany Maynard

1.

Happiness, I guess, is a warm Seconal:
sticky on your lips, 
wrapped like cotton
around dirty November eyes.

2.

Good poison.

Take one capsule with gin

& Vermouth, preferably
cold as stained glass.

3.

Swallow

on an empty stomach.

That way you'll feel God.

4.

Sip hot milk slowly.
Try not to think about
how the white glistens –
a fat tumor.

5.
Bite down.
Finish your milk.
Stop making sense.

6.
Let the barbiturate suck
you alive. Escape
into the Ponderosas.

7.
Remember the first time
Dan climbed into you,
the first time you climbed
Kilimanjaro.

8.

Think about something blooming –

dogwood in March, maybe.

9.
Minutes between ingestion
& unconsciousness:
Median – 5.
Range – 2 to 25.

10.
Minutes between ingestion
& death:
Median – 15.

Range – 5 minutes to 5.6 hours.

11.
End of Life Concerns:
Loss of dignity – 73.2%.

12.
Wait.

(Stanzas 9, 10, and 11 are taken verbatim from the Oregon Public Health Department’s 2013 statistics regarding Death with Dignity Act patients.)