The Tomato-coloured Couch 12:15pm
This Morning My Daughter reported waking
to the song of multitudinous bird-life
the dehumidifier tray was full
but She had no hot water
in The Atlantic House —
My First Marital Home
with Eliza’s Father
Who picked the colours
& built an addition
complete with screened-in porch
off Our New Bedroom
I sat out there in the shelter of the screens
in My Post-Mother’s-Death Depression
& wondered, along with everyone else,
why I was not happy
The Tomato-coloured Couch 9:15pm
We Wear Our Minds Outside Our Selves:
if Our Hair is Frazzled
We have gone miles
in open wind
–
if Our Bellies are Big
We have gorged Ourselves
on Great Ideas
left under The Table
–
if We Smile
Our Contentment
may mean Our Wanderings
have lead Us
to Our Ends
–
if We Laugh
We are revealing
Our Most Primitive Selves
in defiance
of the psychiatric labels
for which We were sent away
The Hawk Bathroom 2:22pm
Joanna’s Sleep Regimen:
Lithium Carbonate 300 mg
take 2 capsules @ bedtime
Synthroid 50 mcg
take 1 tablet once a day
Nova-Olanzapine 10 mg
take 1 tablet @ bedtime
Apo-Lorazepam 1 mg
take 1 tablet as needed*
* I have begun taking
this anxiolytic (Ativan) regularly @ bedtime
& IT HAS ROUNDED OUT
MY SLEEP
I NO LONGER WAKE UP EARLY
WITH JOLTS OF ANXIETY
I ATTRIBUTE THE ABOVE PRESCRIPTIONS
TO MY SLEEP RESTORATION
AND THUS
TO MY OVERALL WELL-BEING
