Don’t Touch My Back
Emily Nguyen
And what do you say back to the
Voices?
‘No one is touching
My back,’ she recites.
Good. You must talk back to
Them and
Tell yourself what’s
Real.
Her forehead glistening light pink,
The spot she banged and banged against the
Walls, then peeled away the tenderized skin with
Her fingers.
The stale hallways echoing with her
Pleads and whimpers,
‘Please stop touching
Me.’
The nursing staff holding her still, waiting for
Silence.
Is she talking to the hallucinations, or to
Us?
They are why she paces,
They are why she blasts loud music,
So she won’t notice them touching
Her back.
In treatment meeting today, her front tooth is
Missing. ’It was loose,’ she explained.
The light pink granulating over, a
Cobweb of fine scabs.
If the voices never go away,
If they are always going to touch
Your back,
Can you live with them like this?
She nods. Mouth agape, hole where tooth once was,
Light pink spot, now rust,
‘Yes.’
Eyes staring past us, to the wall, ‘Yes, I can.’
About the Author
Emily Nguyen is a 3rd year medical student at George Washington University.