my institutionals by patricia ferrell

white rooms exist for bargains with the self.
entirely possible to let you go,
with a staff to care for me.
invalid becomes synonymous with celebrity
outside spring reveals the mystery of me.
pulse, i hear your music deep in the foliage.
spiral ladders taking me back to where danger
was what i asked for most.
the accident mere formality
to get down to the business of recovery.
a thousand notebook pages filled with convalescent dreams.
i'm here to report it's all impossibly beautiful.
there are women in white apparitions,
who come and wipe my eyes.
when they fill to fall and landscape blurs,
who insure the prescriptive steadiness of being me
i needn't lift a hand.
soon i'll be strong enough to love myself again.
free to be free, i have no industry.

[punctuation was inserted by me somewhat randomly. also, i wouldn't have a clue where patricia made her linebreaks. still i find this transcript is better than no transcript. listen to patricia ferrell reading my institutionals here.]