I'm Only As Good As My Medicine
by Corey Mesler

The right combination.
The ongoing experiment.
The petri dish of the soul.
It picks you apart.
You line up the choices.
You’re chickenshit at heart.
The choices collapse.
The off, the on, the day
when it fails to happen.
The ongoing experiment.
The way your loved ones
look at you. Their eyes.
The way your heart dis-
engages. The trip
to the box. The right com-
bination. Your loved ones.
The pills lined up like soldiers.
They line up like soldiers.
The ongoing—the right—
the combinations collapse.
It fails and happens anyway.