Count the stars illuminating Vermont’s mystic forests

On a late night in June

Count the notes the chickadees exchange there

Slightly out of tune

Count the buttons you’ve collected in an old shoe box

Saved for a rainy day           

Count the seeds in the cool chunk of watermelon on your tongue

Quickly swallowed away

Count the words in every sentence of every book

Every paragraph and page

Count the words you comprehend in spite of this habit

South of minimum wage

Count the dandelions swaying with your eyes opened wide

Making the field proud

Count the silence with your eyes completely shut tight

Numbers are much too loud

Count the times you’ve become frustrated enough to scream

Struggling to function

Count the times you slam the refrigerator door shut

My mental malfunction

Count the pills I have choked down to stop this counting

An awful aftertaste

Count the times those drugs have succeeded fully

Simply take one from ace

Count the ways it drives me bananas in every aspect of life

It’s only for me

Count the ways it has built the ever-strong wall I am today

My beautiful OCD