From the upcoming Train of Thought

Just defeat the illness in me.
Just defeat this ill mentality.
Just defeat this mental slavery.
Just defeat.
Let each steady beat freeze the sheet
of paper, the loose leaf page
to let me tell my story
to let freedom out of my cage.
In a simple word, it is not a simple world.
It is a heart that keeps beating
as fast as a humming bird and slowly as dirt.
It is a lowered line with a fish on a hook.
It is two story buildings
or two stories from a crook.
It is the feeling of madness that recreates
each time I think back.
It’s the useless love for drugs
That my friends all have.
It is a cementary flower, it is a country grave.
It is a soldier who fought for nothing
and lives to tell the country that he saved.
that he meant every word. It is the protesters
and the pundits fighting over the earth.
It is just black ink, on a white lined page.
It is a poet with mental illness, trying
To remember his life isn’t all that bad.

 

Jason Wright is the founder and Editor of Oddball Magazine. His column appears weekly.