Sunday, September 13, 2009

Do Madmen Dream of Sanity?























I sit
trance-like…
watching
the blips
bounce
rhythmically
down the hills
and valleys
of sine waves
in neon green…

electro-medical
mumbo-jumbo…

gaudy gauges
illustrating
binary patterns
of color,
brilliance,
and intensity…

it seems
to be trying
to make sense
of the cinematic images…
Technicolor landscapes…
realistic
surround sounds
that permanently
fill the soft space
within my
turtle skull…

so ‘hmmmmmm’
says I to me
and doing so
I birth
this question…

when fate
conspires to rob
a fragile mind
of tranquility…
scrambling reason…
shorting
synaptic switches
breaking
rapid-fire relays…
spinning logic
into darkness…
leaving a mind
that exists
in a realm
of cold sweat
hot flashes…

of phobic fear…

what happens
when at last
the fatigue comes
or the medication
settles the demons..
and sleep comes…

what happens
when
the sleeper slips
into a shroud
of unconsciousness…

is there terror…
are there
eels and worms
writhing in
dark corners…
do the nightmares
truly invade
as the volumes
of ‘mind shrink’
so decree
in common
choral voice…

is it naught
but chaos
blooming…
filling that
unguarded space
with manic dread…

or in fact…
do madmen
dream of sanity?

R. C. Arquette
8/2/07

2 comments:

Mike said...

I think madmen dream about cheeseburgers and platypii...

RCat said...

That confirms it...I'm nuts! Those are the same things I dream about! (woo woo!)