An Open Letter to My Students
To Whom It May Concern:
The pharmacy informs me that due
to the national shortage of Adderall-
which hasn’t been available locally
since much earlier this fall-
doctors have been prescribing
concerta to their patients instead,
thus creating an unanticipated,
public run on my daily meds,
and so, they tell me, they can’t predict
when they will be able to fill
my request for my monthly bottle
of little white barrel-shaped pills.
So now I find myself explaining
the consequences of seven days,
unmedicated and still at work.
So to start, I am walking through a haze,
left without access to the clearer,
straighter path, while also finding that
I am surrounded by every noise which,
a week ago, wouldn’t have mattered,
so I am overstimulated by, yes,
literally every single thing that’s here,
and my anxiety spikes, and my
heart races so quickly that I fear
I will snap at one of you even though
you’re doing nothing different or wrong,
but my exhaustion has peaked,
and my reserves are all gone,
which brings me to this letter’s point:
to make of you a simple request-
Please chill out and do your work-
I truly believe that would be best.
Sincerely,
Mr. W