What Started All This

“Slay the plague for it’s contagious”
—Red Hot Chili Peppers, ‘Throw Away Your Television’

I cold-turkeyed the tablets and started
Going down—opening up—I got worried
Foggy paranoid until psychosis came—thank heavens: I cancelled
All my appointments waited
Talked to myself the foxes my artwork—my body
My pen the future turned
The TV off—I kissed the girls goodbye (for a time…) Then

After two thousand years (work
Were very understanding) I made a new appointment, taking
My time—“They could be in on it themselves!”—for I too
Had not watched, once: I’d been so paranoid! Until I found
A dead one, who listened to all my ideas about
My dead self—the foxes; the TV—in one sitting. And she
Laughed! And agreed! “You’re right!” she said. “Too many repeats.”