Happiness in the Face of Bipolar Disorder
Sean L Corbin
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And you worry that this warmth you feel on your shoulders
this undeniable fullness in the crook of your arm this dusted-off
upward bend at the corner of your mouth you worry that this
is merely an imaginary friend pushing your lips toward your forehead
filling the area between elbow and rib rubbing your neck
with its bony fingers you worry that it could drift away
with a subtle spring breeze or melt at the sound of a running faucet
that a solitary stone in the sidewalk could trip its rainbow toes and
make it fall face-first on the concrete its grinning jaw bursting
with bright blue blood and that will be all it takes for your imaginary
friend to fly off wings beating like a child’s arms and there
you will be empty with nothing to embrace nothing
to talk to nothing to catch the dandelion seeds you blow across
the overgrown yard nothing but a mouth full of sour chalk
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Sean L Corbin holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Kentucky, as well as degrees in English and Creative Writing from Morehead State University. He is the author of The Leper Dreams of Snow (Finishing Line Press, 2018), and is a recent Best of the Net nominee and finalist in the 2018 Still: The Journal Literary Contest. His poetry and book reviews have recently appeared in Vine Leaves, JMWW, little leo, and Solidago, among others. Corbin lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with his wife and two sons.
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Posted in Boudin 2019: Spring Edition, Poetry and tagged in Poetry, SeanLCorbin