What’s Wrong
“What you are struggling with,” said
the psychologist, “is
a continuous song, something like
a telephone’s tone. Nebulous, noncommittal,
unrelenting, pretending
to give you messages it can’t deliver.
Because the body is unattached. It is,”
he said, “like a valentine sent
out cold, beautiful, brittle as tomorrow’s
deja-vu, but distortedly misaddressed.
These pills will help you
find yourself
somewhere where the lace ends up loose
and the paste is still humming
all about you.
~Landis Everson
Landis Everson, “What’s Wrong,” from Poetry (October 2006). Copyright �© 2006 by Poetry Foundation. Reprinted with permission from Poetry Foundation.
Source: Poetry (October 2006).
