Zero and the Surrealist’s Daydream

by Phillip Barker

Zero, cave bound denizen
Caught short in a surrealist’s daydream

“Curious”, he thinks,
“The way things go”.

His sordid history catches up
Twice in as many weeks
The pain of resurrection
Slashed-eyed madness yawning -
Burning hair -
He bleeds out
One slow millilitre a moment
Seeping through the lesions
Of obsessions once so lovingly
cunningly
Excised
The madness exorcised -
One dose at a time
One sleep cycle obligation
Realised.

Dripping through the cracks
Unsealed ceiling
And hurtling down old needle tracks
One more whistle-stop tour
Through the abandoned territory
Of Yesterday

Hallucinatory yearning
Now returning
Blunt-force traumatic
Pre-stressed structures failing.

The sensory overload
Of lurid karmic contracts…
Once thought cancelled
Or stamped, indelibly, “Paid in Full”.

Zero,
Chews the hand that medicates him
And settles for less
On this fine “gimme more” day