Take a step out of the room-
Its 5 a.m. – ****, time’s distorted.
Sit in the common area and chat with some
Restless detoxer; he talks about women,
How even the church girls are adulterous ******.
We laugh at our pains, there’s little else to do
And the alternative was already attempted,
So laugh we shall try.

Bruises heal in a day or two
But what use are smiles, a simple ruse?
A lump in my throat, I carry
These burdens in all I wrote, and now
As they fade, I wonder:
Will they return with anger, and under I go
Beneath the waves, where the sun is garbled
And its light only reaches so far down? The sound
Is drowned out by ringing, it pounds my head
Spots are red,
Am I slipping into patterns once more?
Is there a route to the surface?
Is there any way out?
Is there a place where I can freely breathe?