You fancy me mad?
DARK
H e a v y
Popping open one pale eye
into trashed bed sheets
Gray, ghastly eye
with film over it
Not seeing
but feeling
wine stains and plastic bottles soiling the carpet
Not hearing
but feeling
the muffled pulse of my own Tell-Tale Heart
ushering me into that
hideous dropping off of the veil
utter depression of soul
bitter lapse into everyday life
Nevermore
Why will you still say that I am mad? Listen!
I said: NEVERMORE!
___________
Edgar Allan Poe
Orphaned at three
Dead at forty
A mad drunk
Unknowing
Posthumous praise for his verse
I close his book on my chest
To Sleep
___________
This morning,
popping open one heroic eye
feeling it
as open fire in broad daylight
Snapping and Popping
the crackling pulse of my own Tell-Tale Heart
ushering me into that
soft slipping off of the veil
utter domination of soul!
Raucous birth pangs into everyday life
*Lines and inspiration from Poe’s: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
Sobriety Poet 