Willing the Pills to Work at Night: A Mother's Anxiety Fountain (Poem)

You can't get rid of numbers looping like cursive on paper 1, 2, 3 there were more sheep than I thought at first you can't shut it off the switch in your brain that pipes in obtrusion obstructive the worries unfounded irrational muzak reverberations forget remember cannot remember cannot forget stuck elevator malfunctioning call button and automated response recording reminds you no one is on duty you can't drown out alien chants haunted choristers theme repeats backward play devil music high school education convertible hair and nip-slip breastfeed toilet-tables rattle rattle you forgot to forget that step on a crack break your mother's back what if I do I really might let the blue pill fizz down to windpipe streaming coating synapses axon to dendrite reuptake block it or don't the buzz the pop burn choke moon-glint white disks the gag-back amber-orange viscose elixir of the 3, 2, 1 negative infinity question mark sleep.