Diabetic ketoacidosis is a serious complication of diabetes that occurs when your body produces high levels of blood acids called ketones. One symptom is fruity smelling breath.
i.
my mother tells me the pieces
like statistics
at 3 she could pour
orange juice
at 5 she could rub icing
across my grandmother’s gums
details memorized
to keep her mother alive
i want to hold that girl
but she’s gone
sugar dissolved in water
ii.
a friend tells me
how she saved a stranger
knowing their condition
by that sweet scent
i ask too many questions
what did it smell like?
like too much icing?
or souring food?
i listen to every word
hungry for similes
of icing and resurrection
iii.
on a winter morning
the siren wails
reminding my mother
of all the times she wondered
if this time
it would take her mother
even now my heart races
terrified of love
slipping through
her elegant hands
iv.
my friend’s mother was a diabetic
what a difference 15 years makes
between a childhood
of orange juice
or insulin
v.
the smell must be
like the trash
i piled into a dying van
so strong it wooed
black bears to scavenge
in the sunlight
i can’t forget the scent
so sweet it soured
the tongue
vi.
in the silence following dreams
i can smell it
that sweet smell
between death
and resurrection