an ode to my fellow mental degenerates

oh you fuck ups
you lunatics
you burdens to society

you're equal to scholars.
your education is scrawled into
the walls and desks and draws of tiny rooms.
your education is being dragged
through the hospital halls,
beaten till you choke on blood,
and strapped into restraints,

handcuffed in a police car
screaming epiphanies received
from a higher power.

in drug induced hazes, strung out
on Thorazine, Clonazapam and agony.

you know the depths better than any.

being blown by a young schizophrenic,
as hospital police come crashing
through the door, through that sad desperate love.

smashing
smashing
smashing fists against
the doors of isolation.
naked, shivering in the cold
as a nurse checks the genitals
for gashes.

where
the walls scream
with fake serenity,
where
everything tastes like metal,
where
twelve pills a day
can't bring you back
to who you once were.

Austin Cunningham is a 16 year old student from North Carolina. He has recently begun publishing poems and hopes to make a career in writing. spenaust@yahoo.com