Quiet Exits

Mercaptan (a sick sweet sulfur smell) was added to odorless natural gas lines because so many women were committing suicide.

She could sneak to the kitchen, away from the man who never

let her out of sight. So, while he rumbled in

he drawing room, she would excuse herself to get the coffee

and cut the cake. And put her head in the oven

rather than go back into the same room with him.

So Mercaptan was added, they say, to save the family

from a silent killer of a gas leak

(think of children tucked tight in bed)

but really it was added

to stop Mother from fleeing,

crossing the Ohio in the dark of night,

praying on her knees to an unhearing God one last time.

So now natural gas in the kitchen has an odor and

Mothers have to find new ways to quietly exit the room.