It seems I don't learn.
All these months,
I've learnt nothing.
The nation state
Incarcerated me,
Poured out its wealth
On tubes, poisons, monitors,
Round-the-clock vigilance
And hard radiation.
But I learnt nothing.
Did not,
In the final analysis,
Reform.
And so I'm going back
Where I've already been for far too long.
I have been too long
In the country of the headless giraffes.
There have been far
Far too many needles.
Being an apocalypse
Is not a smart career move.
Banks won't take it as collateral
And it's no good on your resume at all.
But here I am,
A recidivist,
Heading back to the cancer ward
Again.
Undeterred, it seems,
By the penalties:
Nurse Mutant raucous in the corridors at 2 a.m.,
And the unspeakable
Hospital food.
And capital punishment,
Too.
Might scare you
But it's nowhere near enough
To frighten off the likes of me.