The series of short verses “Faustian Sentences” were written while inpatient for mental health concerns.

Each sight
of hands
handing over

meds in paper
cups takes
a sleight of mind

stolen from time
spent alone
when each of us

is judged
by the jury
of our fears.

*

inside of
one moment
the day plunges
into glare

and the tremors
we call plans
retreat
into machines

*

three days after
the blood draws
and that sticky gray
residue of medical
tape laid over cotton
gauze I threw in
the trash last night
still won’t come off.

*

just because
no one else
is acting nervous
doesn’t mean
you shouldn’t be

*

put the minutes
in your mouth
between inhale
and release

hardly any grin
could look
more friendly

*

life inherits death
as breath
invites breath

*

playful as disease
the sand
wonders
at an ocean
but only ever
tastes
this lake
infecting
all the summer
with its caught

*

a surge of plastic
capped the smile
with concern
for abstract forms
that worried me more
than the nightmares
could contain

*

these lithium
headaches
won’t quit

-Nicholas Michael Ravnikar