aluminum loony bin
none of us there
are our ourselves
after all
that’s why you’re there
and if you are who you are
you never go home
you have to stay
on dayroom couches without color
next to marco who smells
of burnt tomato soup
who picks his nose
describes the subtle nuances
of each delicate new masterpiece
to emerge from his nasal passages
with the zeal of carter
opening king tut’s tomb
before wiping these snotty sarcophagi
on the arm of the couch
next to laqueesha
who towers over me
enfolds me in soft pillows
of ivory soap scented flesh
calling me
her scary little white girl
she laughs at my scars
and tells me i would be beautiful
in africawe march in place
chantingthis is not a place to get well
this is not a place to get welland i lie
because getting out of here
is all that
counts
after a while i was so over-medicated the empty spaces between the frame and cables and the outer skin of my body became filled with a thick sludge made of mucus sloshing around and at night they made the air gelatinous and turned on the magnets in the floor and i woke one morning having peed myself all itchy skin and sour embarrassment eating holes in my teeth as the nurse tells me over and over it’s alright it’s okay these things happen and i am full of rain just as it opens holes in the waves
are our ourselves
after all
that’s why you’re there
and if you are who you are
you never go home
you have to stay
on dayroom couches without color
next to marco who smells
of burnt tomato soup
who picks his nose
describes the subtle nuances
of each delicate new masterpiece
to emerge from his nasal passages
with the zeal of carter
opening king tut’s tomb
before wiping these snotty sarcophagi
on the arm of the couch
next to laqueesha
who towers over me
enfolds me in soft pillows
of ivory soap scented flesh
calling me
her scary little white girl
she laughs at my scars
and tells me i would be beautiful
in africawe march in place
chantingthis is not a place to get well
this is not a place to get welland i lie
because getting out of here
is all that
counts
after a while i was so over-medicated the empty spaces between the frame and cables and the outer skin of my body became filled with a thick sludge made of mucus sloshing around and at night they made the air gelatinous and turned on the magnets in the floor and i woke one morning having peed myself all itchy skin and sour embarrassment eating holes in my teeth as the nurse tells me over and over it’s alright it’s okay these things happen and i am full of rain just as it opens holes in the waves
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