by Rachel Howells

Created on: January 21, 2010

The voices command Bradley to the phone
A dozen times a day he listens to a dial tone
Before punching in a number by rote
To speak to Helen and from the bible quote

Retired from Mental Health, she is the oddball
Her arthritic hands still pick up when consumers call
She's the only one who will listen to Bradley ramble
As he tries to free himself from internal bramble

Schizophrenia is attracted to Helen's Christianity
And Brad tells her of angels and demonic insanity
Anointed by Jesus, Bradley fights against Lucifer's reign
And the evil minions gorging on the tissues of his brain

They claw and tear and screech inside his head
And torment him with visions of the walking dead
Until angels lodge in as spiritual boarders
Whispering the righteous details of God's Holy Orders

They say he must throw away all his food and regroup
He is to fill his cupboards with 200 cans of tomato soup
In Blessed Sacrament he will take two cans a day
And with this ordinance the wicked voices will go away

Helen observes the pitch and pull of Bradley's thoughts
As he bounces from fatuous laughter to conspiracy plots
She rocks in her recliner sipping tea until Bradley is done
And then she says, "Thank you for calling; goodbye now my son."

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