Side Effects by Myna Wallin

January 26, 2023
Poem title: Side Effects Poet name: Myna Wallin Poem: Lithium—my saviour, mummified me in cotton batten, weightless I leave softer footprints The bloodhounds quiet, curl up at my feet I feel blackness peel off the walls And I am grateful I stop fantasizing running into traffic, a swaying brown knot My fingers begin to quake lifting a glass—a betrayal of tremors— a growing self-consciousness A fear of being exposed I wait until I have the all-clear to surreptitiously sip But lithium salt made me water-thirsty, a notoriously unquenchable thirst I learn a game of misdirection: Look please, look at anything except the polar bear woman encased in ice with trembling hands End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Myna Wallin Previously published in The Miramichi Reader, (April 2021). Myna Wallin, a Toronto poet and prose writer, was recently published in The Antigonish Review, Vallum Magazine, The Quarantine Review, NōD Magazine, Sledgehammer Literary Magazine, The Miramichi Reader, the League of Canadian Poets’ chapbook On the Storm/In the Struggle, Anti-heroin Chic, among many others. Upcoming poems will appear in EVENT Poetry & Prose. Myna has a master’s degree in English from the University of Toronto. Her latest collection of poetry, Anatomy of An Injury, was published by Inanna Publications in 2018. Wallin was longlisted for the 2022 Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest.