Become prideful. Exhibit your pride to a lot of people. People will mistake your pride for some sort of arrogance because everyone is secretly ashamed of not being proud. Convince people you're not arrogant, or at least try hard. People will mistake your defensiveness for some narcissism because nobody is meant to be so proud, especially of themselves. Go to the shrink like they'll make you and listen to her when she asks if you'd not take meds to get over a cold. Just shrug and nod. This will make things very easy for her. The script'll be there by the time time's up and you go back home, so stop at Walgreens and buy your medicine then buy some vitamins. In the parking lot, pour out the meds and replace them with B-12. Go home and tell them you're now medicated and safe to talk to. Show them the bottle, take one out and pop it in your mouth, swallow. Go upstairs, alone, and think for a while about people and you and realize you've been very manipulative and shady and truly prideful. Set up another appt, tell her the truth now: that it's not really pride, but just a new feeling and that you might've gone kinda overboard. After that session - which flew right by - do everything you did last time at the pharmacy, except don't switch pills. Vitamins are good too.
About the Poet
Carson Pytell is a writer living outside Albany, NY whose work has appeared widely in such venues as The Adirondack Review, Ethel Zine, Rabid Oak, Backchannels and White Wall Review. He serves as Assistant Editor of the journal Coastal Shelf and participated in the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project in December 2020. His first four chapbooks, First-Year (Alien Buddha Press, 2020), Trail (Guerrilla Genesis Press, 2020) and The Gold That Stays (Cyberwit, 2021), and Sketching (Impspired, 2021), are now available.
For the first time in nearly five years, Vita Brevis is closed for submission. Read the full story here.
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