by Cassidy Black
light doctor ex-lover medical slurs
footsteps in the corridor plastic cup
parties music television small veins blood
shortage cigarette breaks frosted flake
breakfast late afternoon puke
showerhead combed hair braided late-
night infomercials alligator wrangler
strange sweet medication from
the nurse’s station
wrist wrapped in gooey gauze mother’s
tongue sharp through the telephone
collarbones jutting brainwashed by
an emergency room crisis sweet black
thunder cries voices lost in thought brain
waves illuminated flashlight dreams
that dissolve like an antidepressant sitting
on the tired tongue too long