Therapy

Handwriting your autobiography on tinfoil with a feather pen in aquamarine foam ink. Diagnosis always 

 

Subtle ­­— answer a multiple choice test. Do you grab objects from other people? ADD. Does your

 

brain loop pictures of your mouth kissing the mouth of a lanky Arab cab driver and does the loop cause you to run your 

 

palms over door knobs eight times & to wash your hands with bleach & sunlight? OCD. Do you lose your edges & the 

 

boundaries between your body & another body & the pavement & the deep blue sea? Borderline. Historians say Orpheus was

 

Borderline with OCD features­— that’s why he couldn’t stop turning around. Lot’s Wife too­— salinity is a side 

 

effect of some of the best medications.  Also skin rash but only on the insides of your hands.

 

But still the medication is miracle. Its touch is jellyfish/devilfish velvet-walking the shine of the planet of your brain

 

your heart, its polished surface. Clean.

Jennifer Zilm has poetry published in several journals including Prism, Room, The Antigonish Review and Vallum. She did graduate work at the University of British Columbia and McMaster in Religious Studies and is currently enrolled in Simon Fraser University’s Writer’s Studio. She also studies libraries and works as a mental health and addictions worker. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.