A Small Home for Characters
Andy Tran
If I’d forfeited my control over my hands,
Then last night I would have built a birdhouse
Out of popsicle sticks, super glue, and a bucket of red paint
Though perhaps I’m...once again, going on a tangent,
Everything now feels so demanding, and I used to be a poet,
A prose writer, I’ve even tried writing scripture
Through sketch comedy writing
And life is exciting, but lately I’ve resided at a hospital
In Falls Church, Va, on the 2nd floor with other friends / patients
Who possess Bipolar 1, and we all take different medications,
Mine for ex: Lithium , abilify, and ativan, and for now these meds
Are working out phenomenally, and is that even the proper word?
My hearing is selective when I see strange women doing pirouettes,
Loud men screaming and raising their fists,
Children crying from night to day, and day to night,
And so if you must know, dear reader, I don’t hate it here;
I merely view this environment, this building, this vehicle
Of capitalism, as a place where I was glad
To stop caring about my responsibilities as a working member in society.
Here, hand me the glue, and then some popsicle sticks,
And let me engorge my body with the red paint;
You are my hands; I am the bird house.
Andy Tran is a writer from Virginia. Follow him on Twitter: @AndyT187.