House of Pain – Tim Campbell

February 1, 2026

The bottom of life is gray steel
Bleeding through my gums,
Is stacks of dirty clothes and empty bottles
Between avenues C and D,
A place where I pawned
The child I’d pictured myself
All my life.

Rolling from my stomach
To my back to try and escape
The memory,
It sticks to me,
Curling my skin.

Junkie boys and junkie girls
Beat and robbed each other
Through the walls,
And peed from the hall
Onto the bathroom floor.

Virgil
Beckoned me,
Until I was filthy and alone,
In someone else’s room,
In someone else’s clothes.

I’d thrown myself away
Until I was a painful whimper.