Tohm Bakelas

the psych hospital lost power

all doors are open and 
locks no longer hold

clocks are permanently frozen
for a time that we have yet to reach

sunlight illuminates darkened halls
weighed by static silence and 
persistent screaming

i work in a strange place 
that becomes even stranger 
when the lights go out

everyone laughs
yet no jokes are 
ever told. 

I wasn’t even working

he was
staring at the
telephone pole
for 20 minutes
intermittently talking
to the transformers
before I asked him
how long it had been
since he was off his meds.
he asked what agency I was with
the FBI or the CIA?
I said neither
satisfied with my answer
he went back to
his initial conversation.
I walked away
and found a wall to lean against
I watched in amazement
at his persistency and dedication
to his ongoing conversation
eventually I gave that up
and went back
to whatever it
was I was doing

no visitors

they temporarily reassigned
me to a different ward because
the assigned social worker
fucked everything up,

the plan was for me to fix his mess
and keep me around until they could
fire him and then i could return
to my previous ward,

well for months
they kept us both there,
until eventually he was
reassigned elsewhere,

and now i’m permanently
assigned to this ward,
secluded with patients
who will never leave
this hospital,
who receive
no visitors

and just like the patients of this ward,
i too am a permanent fixture.

they temporarily reassigned
me to a different ward because
the assigned social worker
fucked everything up,

the plan was for me to fix his mess
and keep me around until they could
fire him and then i could return
to my previous ward,

well for months
they kept us both there,
until eventually he was
reassigned elsewhere,

and now i’m permanently
assigned to this ward,
secluded with patients
who will never leave
this hospital,
who receive
no visitors.

and just like the patients of this ward,
i too am a permanent fixture.

 

Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, zines, and online publications. He has published 15 chapbooks and 2 collections. He runs Between Shadows Press.