you tell me it is beautiful
but i can’t see.
it’s abstract art,
greek to me.
when i used to perceive
did it make me more free?
having less than
two lenses?
panoramic
telephoto
rose-colored
darkly (as in a glass)
all now out of focus
trapped in the bifocal line
a papered fly
an ambered mosquito
dizzy and disoriented
frozen in fuzziness
i need a new prescription
glasses, once hurled, hit the wall
and frustrated, fracture
. . . shatter . . . and scatter . . .
i’ve left the pieces on the floor.
clicking at a clip
like high heels
strutting to stay up
stopping might make teeter
the uncertain heart
open-whoosh-close-whoosh-open-whoosh
hear the blood
check the pulse
touch the tempo
a persistent whisper:
click-clack-whoosh-whoosh-open-close
oh
no
it’s synapses, not ventricles
that slow
no!
Oh,
thoughts swirling
sluggishly
drowsily
like blood in milk
curling,
winding,
halting—
hiccup! hiccup!
taste the tang
diffusing
patiently
like blood in mouth
tinny, untamed
taking back the brain
Worshipped, a god:
Source of warmth, growth, and sight
Symbol of life; Life:
O, holy pun—the Glory of the Son
Else burn and blister and smite
Or wither and languish and die
—Make SAD
Scrawled on the prescription pad:
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Lack of Vitamin D
Added to the list
Of why none us is happy
It came out today from the cloudy melee
Of our gloomy state’s sky in winter
Can we soak in enough
For the sake of our health,
Wealth, and happiness?
Or to fire our sins
Of gloominess within
And place on a cross
The hope-loss,
Burn it down
And till
A new season?
