Just One Thing with Brandon Melendez

Just One Thing -- where our contributors share a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their Split Lip work -- continues with Brandon Melendez, the author of this month's featured poem, "Alprazolam":

"One of the central metaphors in this poem deals with the anxiety-inducing idea of being filled with bees. That metaphor wasn't pulled out of thin air, I actually once had an experience where I was mobbed by a swarm of wasps and bees AT THE SAME TIME. They were in my hair, on my face, in my mouth, everywhere. It was one of the more horrifying things to happen to me. Now I can't hear anything buzz without feeling debilitating anxiety. It felt like an apt experience to pull from when thinking about my relationship with Xanax."