Drawing by Judith Wolfe
Scott Holstad

Poems


      CHOICE

      I am an addict.
      I am Bipolar.
      I've been addicted to
      cigarettes
      alcohol
      enjoyed speed for quite awhile
      driving like the proverbial bat outta hell
      spending
      fucking
      depression
      suicidal thoughts
      and so much more

      Normal life
      is something unknown to me.

      When I was in 3 East,
      many of the people there
      were trying to come off
      something or other
      legal, or otherwise.

      The screams made the
      flesh crawl. Personally,
      I sat on my bed at night
      listening to the lady next
      to me screaming her lungs
      out, and I
      fought

      the urge to
      either rip my eyeballs out
      or go in her room
      and slit her fucking
      throat with a piece
      of broken glass.

      I know it's hard to quit;
      I've had to do it. But,
      we get used to our labels;
      they're convenient excuses
      when we need them to be

      I couldn't help putting $7,000
      on the credit cards - I'm
      Manic Depressive.

      Yeah, that'll carry you for
      awhile, but at some point,
      at some point,
      you may find yourself
      out on your ass
      all on your own
      you've used up your last card
      and what'cha going to do then?

      huh?

      I long for things. I long for
      things I can't begin to
      describe, but while I am
      affected chemically, I
      ultimately need to assume
      responsibility for my
      actions
      and
      if love counts
      and life counts
      then
      I can't be a sleepwalker.

      I have to
      choose,
      lie down with my choices,
      make my efforts,
      try to get better,
      live to see my
      illness,
      not through crazed eyes,
      but through the eyes
      of a shared language -

      reconstructed
      depths of
      wholeness.


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