Like Joan of Arc

In a Perfect World, and Right Mind
 
 
In a perfect world, and right mind, if it was
I would charge with an invective of questions
With some militance, the stuff of Joan of Arc
 
Manifesting a certain power, moving masses
Armored in dark, but righteous Armani suits
Against the climate crisis, or my failing nation
 
Instead, numb to it all, a stolid distraction
Are these olives still good? How are my stocks?
Is Mom ok, or even getting my texts?
 
Without audience, I play the strings of poem
Mining symbol deep into the cerebral desert
Holding paradise with the salacious tongue
 
Playing Jesus to the menstruating woman
Racking up points in another hallucination
Spearing the infidels of indifference
 
In a focused world, on some clear hilltop
I am Joan of Arc, of salubrious mind
Lifting a torch to a pyre of radiant screens

Here's how to avoid nightmares

How to Avoid Nightmares
 
 
Nightmares, like werewolves, always uninvited
To the neural afterparty, hairy and gnashing teeth
Always wearing their matted furry cloaks  
When the dim moon’s miasmatic reflections
Penetrate our rooms with fury and distress
As we hide under the most defenseless sheets

How to avoid the teeth and claws of nightmares:
Look out a window, preferably at the dusky sky
But do not see a bird on limb or in flight, or else
Your dreams will soar into the realm of sick or die
Tell a child it’s all a scam and to not grow up
Observe a cancer patient, then look them in the eye
 
Touch yourself with honey up to your collarbone
Lift three fingers of each hand to rub along
Your skull’s protruding bumps that you’ve forgot
Imagine how it weighs on a shelf in a catacomb
Lick the back of a photograph of you as a child
Dial an anonymous number and sing a tragic song
 
Cross your fingers in the tightest clench of hope
Begin to shine like you are a newly minted coin
Then count backward the days of your life
Inflate your lungs as if blown into by a fan
Considering why you often jolted in your sleep
Ponder as you exhale your one fragile lifespan
 
Finally, to avoid the chilling ones you most fear
Those that lie in wait in your alleyway of night
Where you are most vulnerable in the deepest way
The ones that make you hemorrhage open wide
Make sure to grind your teeth until they crack to bits
And sleep on your left side, or was it the right?