In the Unit

 No one cries in the unit anymore

That is how it is going 

I forgot the name of my favorite patient 

Who died on Friday 

20 days after he asked me

To please put him down 

At least I’m not in the unit

I still cry when the sky is just right

January is the season for tears

Maybe if it were a little colder

The rain would stop and stars 

Will make night for dreams

Some turn to bourbon and food 

Wish I cried for noble reasons

I’ll never know again the places I was before

Today a dog sits at my feet

My son plays his trumpet and hums

I just want to feel some pain 

Sideways Direction

I feel so much different

Than I'd hoped I would

Though I didn't have a plan

Selfish act committed

How many  days

Will I feel sick?

How many hours

Of minutes of time does it last?

Folly suffering

An old familiar memory

A rock thrown at my head 

Misdirected retaliation 

In the grass throwing blows

At my friend's face

So much tension bound up

Taunted by the jeers of the others

These acts endured repeatedly

Not just to the naïve teen

Ignoring the warnings and

Believing magic is real

What fool matures

Yet repeats the pain?

It should feel different

That my heart was a stone 

Not a smatter of butter

Vulnerable to heat