Tohm Bakelas

the nonhuman from polaris

he was deemed no longer a danger
to himself, others and property,
and therefore he was eligible for discharge

i referred him for group home placement
and prepped him on all the things
he should and shouldn’t say

he placed his hand over mine
and said “tohm i love ya”

during his intake meeting he said
“i don’t need no group home, i’m
going to israel to be crucified… you
see, i’m not human, i’m from polaris”

they looked at me,
then he looked at me,
i put my hand on his shoulder
and said “i understand”

“what do you do for fun?” they asked

“hang myself” he said and laughed

“umm, what?” they asked

“that’s a joke,” he said, “i think...”

after the meeting we took our time
walking back to the ward

“tohm i think that went well” he told me

“yeah, we’ll see what they say” i said

i let him inside the ward
and waited until the door locked

after that i went for a short walk
and stared outside a window for a while

Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. He is the author of 18 chapbooks and several collections of poetry, including “The Ants Crawl In Circles” (Whiskey City Press, 2022). He runs Between Shadows Press.