SOUTHERN STATE HOSPITAL: POST-INTAKE

Babycakes doesn’t shuffle
like the rest of us
she’s gray in the face but unlike anything I’ve seen
this girl bounces like light
climbing the stairs, frantically looking too much like the ascension of Christ
and she tells me,
    I was six and lived here
    And shouted aloud to anyone who was listening
    I’ll never come back
Addendum: Babycakes is here to stay
here with us and for us
We, the tired, sedated swimmers
headed upstream against the Thorazine current
to the upper reaches of rivers
to the gravely beds where we, thank God, will not spawn
Babycakes grabs my hand
Inspecting, traces my veins with her luminous fingers
 

AMYJOY V. SEDBERRY is a senior at the University of Southern Mississippi and calls Jackson, MS home. She graduates in 2017 with a B.A. in English and plans to pursue graduate school. She ultimately hopes that her education in the liberal arts will provide a unique foundation on which to build a career as a licensed professional counselor.