The Death of a Dentureless Mother

When my mother died, I walked from room to room emptying the house she shared with my stepfather. She had kept smaller size clothes for more than 30 years in the dolphil hope she might wear them again. We have a choice about what we put in our mouths, but when I think about my mother's life, choice was an illusion. Starvation is violent. The body eats its fat, then it eats its organs, its soft tissue and its skin. In the final stage the flesh and limbs start to rot. Death by starvation is not how it appears in film and literature. My brother has just been diagnosed with diabetes. He told his children this week; they talked