H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

SUZI KAPLAN OLMSTED

“Hey Nutcase”

says Julie on the phone

friend magnetized the first day of

pre-school, neither of us two years old yet

now both 39

I've answered the payphone in the mental ward

we're veterans of rehab and psych wards

Julie's in her apt. where the next door mariachi music is too loud

She can make me laugh so loud

The wardens run over to shush

We compare psych med side effects

we hate,

the relative merits of institutional food

who makes a better temporary best friend

the depressed borderline who sleeps 18 hours a day

or the girl in the dissociative fugue

who's perfectly normal 30 % of the day but sings to

herself in Spanish the rest of the time.

Twice a week at Miss Anita's house

for yoga class and carrot juice when we were 4. 4 times

a month at the psychiatrist now,

talk & medication checks,

doing the 21st century asana -

we could give a class