Excerpt from a Letter to My Mother

by Claire Scott

they treat me well in here
plenty of pills for la la land
an alphabetic panoply
like the horn of plenty
on our holiday table
Ability, Effexor, Geodon,
Risperdal, Zyprexa
mix and match
whatever
forever
pills flushed

do you remember
the Thanksgiving dinner
when I bone–wished
to be a sea gull
a starling, a nightingale
soaring naked

do you remember
when I leapt
from the rooftop
wearing Icarus wings
nose–diving down
sabotaged by spies

what of years
of white gowns
no belt, no laces
only the sharp click
of heels and metal locks
they drill holes in my head

I am rising
on waxless wings
perhaps a sparrow

a smudge in the sky
a slight tickle
in your throat
look up