Nicholas Alti: When I Was Forced into Therapy as a Minor

When I Was Forced into Therapy as a Minor I was Told to Write A List About How I Think of Myself but I Didn’t Cause I Hated My Therapist Though Now as a Begrudging Adult I Oblige

I am:    crumbs in the carpet incarnate

            bipedal detritus

            fake bigfoot footage

            in constant pain

yes I’m:

            aspiring tall grey

            papier-mâché hallelujah in flames

            done in 60 seconds

            very sad

it’s me:

            puppet filled with wasps

            glass box w/ glass shards inside that you have to eat

            twigs of a dead bird’s nest

            regret                                                                                                   

you cannot hate me more than I hate hate

you cannot hate me more than I hate

                          me

                                                  I hate

                   hate                        I hate

                          me                 

                                    I’m tires

                                                            on fire

      a simultaneous

 miasma

                               & evanescent

                                                            S.O.S           

             I’m a suffocating yelp

                                                            help

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Nicholas Alti writes with and about trigeminal neuralgia, depression, addiction, and an affinity for strangeness. If anyone can get him on an episode of Ghost Adventures, he'd do whatever you'd want of him. He’s an assistant editor for fiction and poetry at The Black Warrior Review. There’s more of his work at Dream Pop, Okay Donkey, The Hunger, Pretty Owl Poetry, and elsewhere.