Repetition Compulsion – Forrest Muelrath
April 22, 2022
Ever since bumpy died
you’ve had this thing —
repetition compulsion.
You’re quite good at it,
could be a professional, in fact
delivering babies
as W.C.W did it
Well beyond phlebotomist,
psychiatric nurse,
or therapist, in fact
I want to know what death is, too
Slipped on a banana peel,
I repeat too,
compulsively
You have this thing with
repetition compulsion, too
in fact
A Freudian term, no doubt
Ever since
bumpy died
it keeps repeating,
I’m no analyst, no doubt
But I’ll keep repeating
You have this thing
with repetition
compulsion
I saw it before
bumpy died
when you did it to me
And I’ll never stop saying
how gorgeous
your music used to be
the day we met
when you almost did me
like bumpy
— did me dead,
When you did me
till I almost died
compulsion prepped
to repeat
How many
did you
resuscitate
from the bumpy?
Hey, that’s a pretty cool trick,
the Irish cop in Boston had to admit,
How you killed him and brought him
back to life.
I like that kinda stuff, the Irish cop said.
You are like the son of god
to your enemy in arms
Your magic works,
on the Boston cop—
perhaps your most
pernicious trick
And we did it again,
at the aids museum,
where you brought me back,
in fact,
And then we did it again,
at the aids museum,
where the river was black
two cloaked figures rowing me back
when you pulled me forth
to two men in masks.
One can live with aids
the compulsion:
it is tiresome,
yet manageable
But this repeating
is unlivable
And I am livid!
It’s only a matter of time
ever since bumpy died
You have this thing,
and it repeats
and I want to, too.