H.M. Reynolds, hmrwrites

How Best to Stage a Breakdown

No longer hear the noise before the alarm that tells me I’m about to wake up.

Warns me that the fantasy stops here and it’s time to start again.

Tells me to stop and prepare for fresh hell.

 

 

 

I had this old clock radio with

the loudest alarm and

I had to rush to it every morning

before it went on long enough for my dad to hear it because

I woke up too early for his sleep but

the alarm made a noise before the alarm noise that

always woke me up

 

and then I started hearing it in everyday life

in painful situations and

I was waiting to wake up

 

then I’d hear it during panic attacks and realise

I wasn’t going to wake up

because just as that noise bridged the gap between

sleep and wake it also bridged the gap between

mind and reality

that noise didn’t get me out of bed

I actually had to do that myself

 

that noise is not my cue to hang around and

wait for the alarm but the indication that

I need to change direction and

re-start my thinking need to get up and

out of it before my dad wakes up

 

I told a therapist once that

I hear this noise and she told me to

stop being dramatic

and silly

and went on to suggest that

an adult dose of prozac was

a good form of treatment to gift a fifteen year old

 

Thank you for the drugs. Thank you very much. I’m sorry I didn’t

Quite finish off the job.