Diagnosis – Wallace Mack

February 6, 2026

we learn nothing
until it happens to us
and then you have to pray
for the longevity
to understand

 
Recovery Couch

 
I feel bad for everything
that has ever existed
with enough perception
to notice themselves

I don’t mean it in a nasty way
I see the beauty here
It’d be a sin to ignore it

But I wonder if wild dogs
and deers realize they have arthritis
or failing kidneys

It seems cruel to let them know

I hope God lets them live like wind
and coastal breezes
Coming and going
Never in one place long enough
to rationalize their trajectory

I hope their lives are grace materialized

 
Opioids

 
They gave me some Fentanyl
in the hospital
It felt like dying
but with none
of the consequences

I understood the Velvet Underground
For those few hours
That narcotic euphoria’s
not found in the world
It’s in brief nonexistence