All these negative thoughts have a lasting effect,

can the same be said for positives? Is it any wonder

the self-help industry is booming, the power of

positive thinking, the creation of new neural pathways

that we can walk, hand-in-hand, to our deaths

two negatives don’t make a positive

but they can make a short-circuit, bypass a whole

section of brain, invert it and turn it on myself—

“you’ll never know. Hah!”

When did this happen? What was the turning point,

the one I didn’t notice, the moment the potential flicked from

positive to negative? Perhaps it coincided with the toast

popping up from its slot, a subtle but sudden noise that

masked the trip of my internal psyche switch

so by the time I reached for the the crust—

far darker than usual, although not quite burnt,

my inattention has led to the 

Catastrophe of singed sourdough,  

casting a pall over breakfast

And it’s all my fault. No other explanation, even the

slightest error haunts me—he, magically having borne

these butterfly wings, whose flutter can upset the peace talks

on the other side of the world. Well, that's a bonus, isn't it?

To have that power after all these months out of control.