***
Time to get up from bed and
ring Mum,
after all
she knows what to do.
Scattered and shaking,
I do this.
I go to the phone,
sit down, and
phone ever-reliable Mum.
She is my tower of strength.
It’s an STD call
but I don’t care.
She tells me to ring the Crisis Team
(aka the Mental Health Triage)
but I can only fumble with
my electronic organizer.
I know exactly how it works,
inside and out,
but I could not operate it to save myself.
I get a pen and Mum tells me
the phone number of the crisis team and
I write it down.
She tells me that
she can be on the next bus
if I need her to be with me.