TV Highway at the End of Life

My dying mother
loves watching television
with the sound off

The TV becomes a train window–
compressing life into fast snippets
bite sized kibbles
infusing the moment
like lavender in old black tea

She laughs at it
points out things I can’t see
reads the news crawler proudly
the way she used to read signs
on the highway out loud
driving everyone else
in the car crazy

The TV highway goes
wherever she wants it to go
past president Obama’s son
and the car with bright feathers,
the endless river of bright words
never fails to amuse her