Pilgrim State Hospital (Brentwood, NY) | welcome to ward number 5

there is a place between waking and sleep where no one even knows you're alive - even you, for your heart has been buried so deep welcome to ward number five our thoughts are all managed, our days are preplanned and we’re told towards which goals we should strive our feelings and dreams and our victories all canned welcome to ward number five we’re given ‘coping skills’ to manage the pain and the tedium which we must survive and if they don’t work then they’ll scramble your brain welcome to ward number five the sun outside the windows is hopeful and bright and all the things under it thrive but in here we wilt beneath fluorescent lights welcome to ward number five. ----------------------------- Pilgrim State Hospital, Long Island NY. 2009 Photograph and text by Matthew Christopher