recent posts

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

New Hiakus: Tohm Bakelas

 


BIO: Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have been printed widely in journals, zines, and online publications all over the world.  He is the author of twenty-four chapbooks and several collections of poetry, including Cleaning the Gutters of Hell” (Zeitgeist Press, 2023).  He is the editor of Between Shadows Press. 


MY REALITY 2 

 

tongue swollen, voice shot,  

starving, terrified to eat—  

strung out on codeine  

 

 

IT WAS WORTH IT 

 

codeine got me horny,  

jerk off, pass out— later  

wake to cat staring  

 

 

SECOND TIME IN A ROW 

 

watching deadbeat at dawn—  

codeine courses through me,  

pain becomes lighter  

 


KEEPING COOL 

 

fixated on time, paranoid  

watching clocks— outside  

i feed the birds  

 


HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN YOURSELF? 

 

recreationally taking  

unused pain meds—  

all for the poems 




Editor's note: These 5 haikus are from 20 recently written by the author while "fucked out of his mind" on codeine following a tonsillectomy. 




- Tohm. 
Instagram: @flexyourhead

No comments: