Kate’s work has been published in The Susquehanna Review, ditch, Third Wednesday, Barrier Island Review, Verandah Literary Journal, Grasslimb, Kill Poet, MiPoesias, The Junk Lot Review, The Legendary, The Missing Slate, and Existere. She has self-published 2 books, escape artist and hallucinations, cancer & the purple tree and is publishing a third book, Inheritance (unbound CONTENT, forthcoming in 2013). She mostly spends her time rolling on the floor with her daughter and her husky. She is currently writing full time and trying to get more involved in the poetry community.

the downfall of civilization
By Kate Hammerich

They have pumped you irresponsibly, desperately full
every night, first the 900 mg dose of Seroquel,
but the internet is honest:

The safety of doses above 800 mg/day
has not been evaluated in clinical trials.

Then the Doxepin, Valium, Trileptal,
Temazepam, Ambien, Zyprexa, Luvox,
Mirtazapine, Latuda, Chlorpromazine,
Fanapt, Methylphenid, and Vicodin.

Like an elephant taking shaky determined steps
despite the tranquilizer dart through his fragile skin,
I am up all night with a body that has decided
to mount a defense.

The ulcer worsens and they add
Prilosec, Zantac, Maalox, Carafate.

To tell me

There is nothing left to try,
no more orange prescription bottles
or cardboard sample packets stamped 
with warnings.

You have poisoned your body with lies
masquerading as hope.

The savior they told me was right around the corner,
fell just out of reach.

Your brain can’t save you,
your heart leaps frantically against the jail of ribs,
a panic attack, a seizure,

a body turned inside out,
the center cannot hold.