Survivor Story
The Long Walk Home
The store gets locked up
I walk alone toward home,
Stranger in the night
We two start talking
“Are you working?”
“I am,” I reply proudly
Life had just begun
Certainty did roam, so
I try and make a friend
On the long walk home
I want a drink
“We could have one
and watch a movie
With friends, at my place
It’s really not far”
I feel like walking
With my new friend
Cause I like drinking
And talking
But, with beverage in hand
I take a seat, only to
see I don’t care for
Homosexual por-no
So, as encouraged,
I finish my drink
For the long walk home
But when I get up
My feet aren’t working
My vision blurs
And I hear chatter, as
They haul me to a back room
Consciousness flits
My eyelashes are like teeth of a comb
Until I wake up, and
Make the long walk home
Feeling like shit,
Thinking I’m lucky just to be alive-
My hips are sore
Maybe they have AIDS?
Voices start talking
So, I clean yourself
Shower with soapy foam
And wash away
The long walk home
- David Cleofas Avila
A former Peer Support Specialist with a B.A. in Psychology from Sonoma State University, having psychosis as a teen, later diagnosed with schizophrenia, David Cleofas Avila writes and makes art & music to better square away the sequelae of life.
