the clench in my brain is like
imagination on speed
ghosts fly behind my back

my mom’s sweet white hair
the door ajar
her eyes peeking through

the pale blue casket
like an empty sky

more than once a day
I have something to tell her
she listened
even if she couldn’t remember it
five minutes later

what scares me
is swallowing insanity
in small measures

the doses will grow
until I talk to people no one else can see
until I think my granddaughter is my daughter

and I run naked on the lawn