the nurse hung up the phone; restraints, by Richard Thompson

the nurse hung up the phone; restraints
until then chemical imbalance simply hid
a multitude of unforgiven sins we both
believed that it did not excuse the midnight
calls the smell the teeth the rotten shoes

when last we spoke I knew what loose
associations were you called me by my
father’s name and told me how to save
the world I felt every fraying strand of
thread rotating thoughts that dragged
and skipped and then unwound went dead.

Richard Thompson is a clinical psychologist in Chicago.

© 2011, Richard Thompson