Cotton tassels dangle in the corners of a mind.
TASSELS BY SARAH JANE JUSTICE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 118
cotton tassels
dangle
in the corners of a mind
that turns unlit
ideas fall to strings
start falling
out of knots
start losing sight of other strands
threads stretch apart
thoughts start
to split
each letter in a sentence
is a satin line
left all alone
in sweating fingers
losing
grip
one by one
the tassels slip
from hands that can’t remember
when to not
let go
I
was the hall I paced at night
my head was filled with lights
that shone too bright
and still
not bright enough
to see
a line of dimming torches
flickered silent noise
an unheard sound
kept me awake but stayed
too dull for me to find it
my
thoughts were fish on greasy shores
where every clumsy grab
was failed
before beginning
logic
slipped like sliding
silk
I grabbed at what
I
couldn’t see
the hall I paced turned
on its tilt
a corridor became a pit
the other end unseen
the other doors unseen
the light that dimmed tore into shreds
its flickers fell apart
I grabbed
at the tassels
on a ripping scarf
and somehow found
the string that held its place
and turned to rope
SARAH JANE JUSTICE
This poem, inspired by lived experience, is meant to emulate slipping into a state of delusional psychosis.