Gravity Issue 24 - Scott Holstad

Scott Holstad

reduction

i bummed a cigarette tonight
and felt one minute of
stress, depression, & anger
dissipate

i drank a decafe non-fat iced mocha tonight
and felt one minute of
stress, depression, & anger
dissipate

i got a "scholarly" paper accepted by an
MLA-indexed journal tonight
and felt one minute of
stress, depression, & anger
dissipate
i shaved my head tonight
and felt one minute of
stress, depression, & anger
dissipate

i took out my new 10" serrated
Cold Steel folding blade and carved
my arm into bloody ribbons again
tonight
and felt one minute of
stress, depression, & anger
dissipate

i looked at the bathtub bathed in
coalescing, congealing blood so
it looked like a Monet painting
tonight
and felt one minute of
stress, depression, & anger
dissipate

i took
      2 Neurontin
      2 Klonopin
      1 Paxil
      1 Xanax
tonight
and felt one minute of
stress, depression, & anger
dissipate

i did countless other things tonight
and felt one minute of
stress, depression, & anger
dissipate

each time

only 9,000 more years
and a whole eternity
in hell to go
until the pain is gone

Scott Holstad writes: I've authored 8 poetry books. My last one, Places (Sterling House P, 1995), was nominated for the 1996 Pulitzer and is available via Amazon.com. My work has appeared in hundreds of magazines in 24 countries and 5 languages, including journals such as The Minnesota Review, Hawaii Review, Wisconsin Review, Exquisite Corpse, Long Shot, Textual Studies in Canada, Pacific Review, Poetry Ireland Review, and Southern Review.