John Dorsey

Taking a Mental Health Day

after 4 days of no sleep
legs dangling
off the side of a couch from 1974
wind rattles the garage door
just after 3 am
when you get up
to go to the bathroom

later you stare up at the ceiling
& then back down again
the howl of the wind
makes you feel crazy
like a wild animal
just before it’s about to die
the past sits there
in the tall grass of the invisible prairie
of your mind
& you focus in on a cricket
its legs nearly gone
frozen to the floor

you think to yourself
in death
it looks so peaceful

finally able to rest.

Suicide is not Death

but instead some romeo & juliet fantasy
whether or not we ever feel love
the sun is there sustaining life
tattooing my skin into an early grave
one eye gone
my youth removed
along with it.

 

John Dorsey is the former Poet Laureate of Belle, MO. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Which Way to the River: Selected Poems: 2016-2020 (OAC Books, 2020), Sundown at the Redneck Carnival, (Spartan Press, 2022, and Pocatello Wildflower, (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2023). He may be reached at archerevans@yahoo.com.