This catalog you’ve meticulously compiled,
which I discovered hidden in a dresser drawer,
is ambitious in scope and thoroughly researched.

An entry in “S” is quite insightful: “reacts to symptoms
in inverse relation to their seriousness;
see also ‘irrational vigilance,’”

as is an item in “R”: “renounced religion
but recites Hail Marys while getting blood drawn.”

Mostly, though, I keep returning to a note in “O”:
“The little dictators who rule her obsessions
bicker constantly but do a respectable job
of oppressing the rest of her.”

You’re building a vigorous case against me,
especially given this shoebox
filled with time-stamped photographs
of the faces I make while dreaming.

If you stack the pictures in order
and flip through them,
I’ll mouth my confession.