Inspired by a call for writing about ‘what pop culture did for you, to you, and with you in the 1990s’, I go back to 1992 (though the photo is from 1991)…

Xanax® fogged me into an anxious limbo
a state of wired sedation
where clouds had edges
and every outing threatened amputation

The screaming voice inside
wanted to go home
but was scared of the barber’s chair
the neck-strip constricting every vessel
choking off my air

I felt like that baby diving into the pool to chase the buck on a hook
only to feel the burn of the chlorine
while everyone smiled and took pictures

(11 August 2016)