Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, zines, and online publications. He has published 13 chapbooks. He runs Between Shadows Press.  

some lines i’ve written once before 

i’ve lost count of 
all the times
i’ve wept watching
wind move across water 

drunk driving in the sun

numbed mind, diminished 
insight, death does not always 
present so simple 

sometimes it’s required

i drive home drunk with 
the world singing its songs— 
why is peace illegal? 

Portland, Maine

drunk at my third bar 
i stumble through streets unknown— 
i am in bad shape 

every bar i go to

slayer plays twelve times 
on the jukebox while i laugh 
silently and wait