Breath & Shadow
2007 - Vol. 4, Issue 3
"Man At the Pharmacy"
written by
Tony Brown
The man at the pharmacy counter and I are
picking up our prescriptions.
He notices the names on my slips.
He pulls me aside on the way out the door and says,
"What does a gun barrel
taste like? Are you suicidal if
you can simply imagine
it? Even if you don't own a gun? if
you know you'd more likely use
a knife or a rope? if you haven't
so far and you're in your thirties?"
I tell him
I wouldn't know anything
about that. He nods
and waits for me to go
to my car. In the rear view mirror
I see him sit down on the curb
and run his fingers through his hair.
I will drive away, I tell myself,
and I do. I stop looking
in the mirror once I've pulled out,
stop thinking about it
until I get home and write this poem.
If you lick the end of a pen
it's almost the same taste,
is what I should have said.
Tony Brown lives with bipolar disorder (bipolar II) and severe obstructive sleep apnea, both of which affect his life and the subjects of his writing. He has been writing for over thirty years and has read at readings, festivals, and slams all over the country. In August of 2006, he was honored to be named one of the "Legends of Slam" and to read in that showcase at the National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas. He lives in Worcester, Massachusetts.