Lynnell Edwards
Lynnell Edwards is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently This Great Green Valley(Broadstone 2020) and the forthcoming The Bearable Slant of Light (Ren Hen Press, 2023). She is Associate Programs Director for the Spalding University Graduate School of Writing and MFA program, and book reviews editor for Good River Review.
Medical history #2
Me: I think there’s a lot of trauma he has to process
Dr. K: Did something happen?!
The hospital happened the involuntary happened the
injectables happened they had to rip his shirtsleeve the doctors
the nurses the residents the techs happened the other patients
some of them pacing in the hall and loud the first attempt
happened the one-on-one happened the eeg happened the
ambulance happened cnone of this is in any kind of order you
understand the restraints and psychosis the overdoses and
noncompliance the catatonia the mania happened the
loneliness the isolation happened so many many different meds
the assessments and telehealth happened more ambulances
happened the courts happened the second attempt happened
the social workers happened the intensive outpatients and
treatment teams and therapists happened six years happened
he won’t get them back
Walgreens: At the corner of happy and healthy
You can get a Halloween costume like ninja or army guy a
santa hat for the secret santa party decorations for your tree
you can buy a new charger for your phone in case the one that
came with broke you can get a 12 pack or whiskey and
cokes to mix with you can buy a blank journal for your
thoughts and journaling and to draw you can buy vitamin b
complex for stress you can buy a ton of sharpies or
melatonin every color or just one color 8 pack and tape
you can pick up your meds they send you a text you can get
mixed nuts in a can or a bag with other stuff they have
padlocks or if you need more shampoo or half and half
powerades they have a refrigerated section also coffee not
already made but that you can fix you can get soup and
bandaids they’re open all the time you can get sunglasses
or just the case sometimes theres a homeless guy in front