wide black rings under my eyes

today, after so many years,
the stale quinapril got me sick
though it did not bloom my quaver

in this wasteland,
hallucinations
keep my abyss together,

my vision
in abeyance

a baggie of,
a packet of,
an ounce of,


a sip of - I've become one of
these madwomen
who hear messages on untuned radios
and lick their arid lips until
they get to adore their disease
above all.


Text: ®Victoria Bardot, 2014
Image: portrait of English model Karen Elson