he\'s a skinny little kid is this one
wiry you\'d call him
every so often he lets out a scream
blood-curdling really
the first time
you want to race down to the Seclusion Room
and check to see that he\'s alright
never mind if it\'s time for the Fifteen-Minute-Obs
or not
but he just smiles
a big whole-of-face and all-of-teeth smile
says no
it was just the devil he was yelling at
he\'s fine
really
o
kay
~
the little bugger has turned the bed upside down
it\'s a solid block of foam rubber
on it\'s arse in the corner of the room now
sheets and blankets are everywhere
but at least he\'s peed into the bottle
and hasn\'t gotten into any finger painting
last time that happened
this Aboriginal guy painted the national coat of arms
Kangaroo and Emu and shield
all over the wall in shit
it was that good I might have saluted
if I wasn\'t laughing so hard
~
four hours is up
time for the Mandatory Medical Exam
lord he\'s a dag
grinning at us stupidly
with his eyes full of trust
and a complete absence of guile
but utterly unpredictable
when the doctor wants to put her stethoscope
onto his chest for a listen
he puffs himself up like a little cockerel
~
we\'ve been through anti-psychotics
nothing has worked
we\'re doing shock therapy
but he\'s already too high
we\'ve kept him away from illicit substances
he\'s not using
we\'ve nursed him in High-Dependency
and in Seclusion to keep stimulation low
nothing seems to work
he\'s not much more than a kid this bloke
but I think his life is shot to bits
we\'ve lost him
already
~