4:00 AM JOLTED FROM SLEEP…I AWOKE HAUNTED BY A NIGHTMARE …UNABLE TO GO BACK TO BED I LAY STARTLED BY CREEPING PSYCHOSIS …I MADE THE JOURNEY TO GEORGETOWN–FINDING KAFE LEOPOLD BUSTLING AS ALWAYS I TRIED TO PLAY MY ROLE AS A SERVER–BEGGING THE GODS OF HOSPITALITY FOR REPRIEVE…THE BRAIN IS COMPLICATED I KNOW BUT WHAT FOLLOWED TESTED ALL LOGIC…EVENTS AT WORK RESEMBLED THE DREAM–I FELT TRAPPED–ANXIOUS–AFRAID OF GETTING FIRED…IT GOT WORSE AND WORSE–PANIC ATTACK STRUCK LIKE LIGHTNING–MY HEART POUNDED MERCILESSLY…I ESCAPED INTO THE FRIGID AIR THINKING I NEEDED A CIGARETTE…NEVER SUICIDAL–AT LEAST CONSCIOUSLY–I RETRACED MY STEPS TO KEY BRIDGE–I THOUGHT THAT MY WATCHFUL PARENTS WOULD BE ON THEIR WAY–CLUED IN TO THE SIGNALS SENT BY MY LACK OF SLEEP…I PASSED ONE, THEN ANOTHER–CONNECTIVITY FAILING-I JUMPED OVER THE RAILING INTO ICY WATERS…I FELL INTO THE POTOMAC LIKE A ROCK-APRON STILL PREGNANT WITH CREDIT CARD SLIPS…I WAS SAVED BY UNNAMEABLE ANGELS–ONE THE VETERAN WHO PULLED ME FROM THE FRIGID WATERS–REASSURING ME THAT HE’D KNOWN MANY WHO’D BEEN TEMPTED BY ESCAPE FROM THIS WORLD, BUT SURVIVED…AN AMBULANCE CAME AND ASSESSED THE DAMAGE…SUICIDE IS A DEMON WITH MANY FACES I WAS LUCKY TO ESCAPE ITS GRASP AND NOW AM GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE
–BYPO PHOENIX c)2016
