Category Archives: poems & short jabs

Christmas Paranoia

He’s in
his 70s,
thinks creatures
from outer
space are
lurking under
his bed,
won’t eat,
shits &
pisses his
pants &
flies into
sudden rages.
There’s talk
of acute
paranoia,
& then
they cart
him off
to the
funny farm.

 

At Christmas
his children
come to visit–
they’ve got
him locked
down in
a straitjacket
in a
soundproof
padded room
with a large
shatterproof window.

 

He rolls
furiously
from one
end of
the room to
the other,
snarling &
biting at his
restraints,
& they
plant kisses
on the glass
& mouth
We love you!
each time
he goes
rolling by.

 

They wonder
if his
will will
get thrown
into probate,
& then
his oldest
daughter writes
Merry Christmas!
on the
glass with
her lipstick.

 

Meanwhile,
somewhere in
Bethlehem,
a child is
born without
making a
sound.