OCD (1998, published in Ethos)

I wash my hands when I think of you,
Do everything else two by two.
Running fours inside my head,
Count my pencils, then to bed.
Are the shoes touching in my closet?
I can't sleep, gotta stop it.
Scratch one hand and then the other,
I'm not nuts, just ask my mother...

She checks the stove...
One, two, three, four...
One, two, three, four...
One, two, three, four...
One, two, three, four...
...now we can go.

Agoraphobia, anxiety attacks,
Fear of dying? You bet your ass!
Oh, why am I pursued by tedious demons?
Compelled to act for obsessive reasons.
Release me from this tortured tedium!
Fucked-up head, defective medium.
Another day of endless wiles,
One more day counting ceiling tiles!