dear scott by Scott Ferry

i am writing this to you knowing that the parts

of you hooked to the worry-talons may be sheared

off by the medicine you are going to start

i hope it does not tear too much of the skin

around the amygdala up through the hypothalamus

reaching up through a fountain of epinephrine

they say there could be a removal of the cock

and balls and the higher joys with the extrication

of the many-mouthed demons

we could see the suffering artist replaced by a

functioning slab of sores healing in a gel

of serotonin and dental office flute music

i hope we will still be in touch through the curtain

of medium grey soap i hope when you laugh

you will feel it in the spirals of each mitochondria

i hope when you cry you will remember how

to stop please promise me if it takes too much

from you please spill the pills in the whale’s

maw please come back into the shiny pain

with new wounds please remember all of us

speaking at once like a substitute classroom

please say a prayer for us each time you swallow

the poison please walk out of this

bombshelter and never come back

Scott Ferry helps our Veterans heal as a RN in the Seattle area. In former lives he taught high school, managed aquatic centers, and practiced acupuncture. He has four books of poetry: The only thing that makes sense is to grow (Moon Tide, 2019), Mr. Rogers kills fruit flies (Main St. Rag, 2020), These Hands of Myrrh (Kelsay Books, 2021), and Sea of Marrow (Ethel Press, 2021). He has two books upcoming in 2022: fishmirror from Alien Buddha Press and Skinless in the Cereal Aisle from Impspired.