Journey to Ixtlan

The poem “Becomes The Ill” is about the danger of self-medication. The apparent “cure” moves to dependency, trading one problem for another at best, or compounding problems at worse.


Becomes The Ill

The remedy becomes the ill
in due time the fall occurs
the trap is laid at the start
waiting for its time to come

monsters lay beyond the balm
remedies that go awry
when the cure becomes the curse
bending bodies to be worse

when the drug is self-applied
calamity lurks to feed
on the souls that desire
something else then hell’s hot fires

intruding on the here and now
cultured by the need to soothe
pains inflicted on the coil
lead to those of the abyss

need consumes reticence
caution lost to feed the beast
the peace once sought is denied
when the remedy is the ill.

© 2018. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20180520.

The poem "One More Pill" is a metaphorical description of the things we use to distract ourselves from truly living. These distractions, taken to the worst case ending, will result in removing us from life.


One More Pill

One more pill
to remove the pain
to wake me up
to send me to sleep
to ramp me up
to calm me down.

One more pill
mix it with the liquor
mix it with my pain
find it in the bottle
find it in the alcohol
follow it in the end.

One more pill
just what I need
get that end I want
find the silver lining
beyond the pain
beyond the pain.

One more pill
still feeling the same
waiting for effect
perhaps another
if that won't do
put down another
added for good measure.

One more pill
never going back
now that I'm here
in my comfy place
in the no pain place
in the numb numb place.

One more pill
to remove the pain
to remove my life
to send me to sleep
in the no pain place
in the numb numb place.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20160531.

Being on a medication like Cymbalta is life restoring for me. However, it feels like a spark of my creativity has been removed. I'll write more about that later. For now I need to get to bed for some rest.