top of page

A Bout of Ideation

Todd Wooten

Updated: Oct 12, 2023

But suicides have a special language.

Like carpenters they want to know which tools.

They never ask why build.

- from “Wanting to Die” by Anne Sexton


thoughts before my second psych ward visit:


People who own glass homes should not throw stones.

Is it acceptable to throw yourself?

five-story downtown building with a reception-made roof

where hundreds of friends and colleagues meet to determine

company futures and strategic plans

and I stroll the edge of the structure

eyes aimed at the sidewalk

I do the percentages in my head


A Wal-Mart end cap displays carbon monoxide alarms

I recall the three marines who died in their car

as they sat outside a convenience store

I google ‘are Prius fumes toxic

when they collect in a garage?’

and I imagine the screeched beeps

that announce the rise of ppm levels

and invite me to relax in the backseat


Five milligrams of Zyprexa beds me for twelve hours.

I am supplied thirty pills by the pharmacist.

What amount would I need to swallow?

what if vodka washed it down? I keep the questions to myself and smile.

turns out twenty can erase a three day weekend.

when I revive, I pack my Samsonite shell. I fail to commit suicide so I commit myself.

0 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

A Greek Tragedy

Sentries stand guard over the dungeon of Danae where I hide from betrayal and Zeus. I once had a child - not Perseus - born to a Gorgon...

Abandoned

Your abandonment was a whisper. Like the autumn breeze whistling through the dilapidated shack that creaks among the trees. I hear the...

Morning Thoughts

If I could just escape this skin. That’s the problem isn’t it? Wet footprints lead me back to the psych ward where my yellow grippy socks...

ความคิดเห็น

ได้รับ 0 เต็ม 5 ดาว
ยังไม่มีการให้คะแนน

ให้คะแนน

©2023 by Linesfromthelabyrinth. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page