Everyone’s bipolar, he says,
preaching paradox
and reductio ad absurdum easy,
as if insanity is imperative,
unremarkable as brown eyes
or blond hair,
and we, drying tears from our vision
crave the pain dosed away
with prescription pills
plump with placebo crap. Sure,
we’re all damaged some ways,
pitch(ed) out broken metaphorical windows
into a world where assembly is required
but we’ve lost the instructions
and instead of a life, we build
a collapsing scream.
My words were paradox, crap, collapsing, scream, pitch, imperative, damaged, drying, preaching, and assembly.
Susan Daniels Poetry 
Oh wow. Your last line is incredible. Awesome poem and that line – WOW
Gretchen, thanks! I like that line. That might eventually end up bring the first line of a poem 😉
I second that “WOW”
Thanks so much, Steven!
Yes, we are indeed all damaged in some way or another. The problem is that the majority of people are not aware of this, and treat those who wear their flaws outwardly harshly. I really liked this, Susan… It’s a subject which is close to my heart.
Thanks, Soraya–close to mine, too. Glad you liked this. For some reason we stigmatize this like we do no other disease.
A lot of people have great difficulty understanding things which do not manifest themselves as an OBVIOUSLY physical ailment. I despair of humanity sometimes.
Me too, hon.
Bravo Susan! Are we not all insane….it just depends on who is defining sanity.
True, and quite socratic, or platonic, of you to say so!
We are all broken because that is simply the destiny of eggs. Instead of mourning the broken shells we should rejoice in what has hatched from within….
YES! So well said, Stephen!
I suddenly became poetic in my zen-state 🙂
Some people have an insane belief in their sanity but I sanely believe my insanity.
Right there with you, David!
pitch(ed) out broken metaphorical windows
into a world where assembly is required
but we’ve lost the instructions
and instead of a life, we build
a collapsing scream….this is just awesome…kudos what you did with these words…and really..yeah..sometimes it looks like we lost the instructions and i for my part..try to duct tape it with poetry..ha..smiles
Claudia–Oh my God, yes! My life is covered with duct tape, and poetry is the stickiest and strongest I’ve found 😉
we’re all damaged some ways…nice…we are you know…nice bit of truth that…and we build collapsing screams…dang what a close on this susan…haha what a list of words you started with as well….you did really well with this…
who gave you the words?
Hey, Brian, got them from here:
http://watchout4snakes.com/creativitytools/randomword/randomwordplus.aspx
Glad you enjoyed this.
That’s a crazy list of words ~ I specially like the ending lines, a collapsing scream ~
Thanks, Grace. That random word generator was interesting today.
it’s as if you’ve peered into the soul of what’s wrong with the world today – the final stanza strikes particularly hard… & the title is brilliant
Ruth, thank you. I write what I see. Sad.
Like always really good Susan that last line is so incredible, there is a poem right there, I also like “we build a collapsing scream.” so true, I wonder who is normal now days…not me.
I am definitely not int he normal camp, either. normal=dull in my mind 😉
…a collapsing scream. Like that, lots.
Thanks, Nelle. That one came directly out of the word generator I was using, one word after the other, and I said hmmmm….
Fancy, being able to produce such qualitywith random words.
I really liked the random word generator I used. Thanks for commenting!
…we’re damaged in some ways. — and who claims to be perfect & flawless? all great things are once damaged & scraped before it becomes great… smiles… bipolar — how true in my current living…
Yes we are, but I guess it is what also makes us human.
..agreed… smiles…
Wow I’m so with you on this. Each line struck a nerve, especially the last. Oh, the fight to find peace in our heads
Thanks, Amy. So sad, we do not even have peace within ourselves.
What strong writing, Susan. “Instead of life we build a collapsing stream” really wows me, and I can picture THAT so vividly! Yikes.
Mary, thank you. This all came out of that handful of random words and a comment my husband made the other day 😉
This is amazing. I looked at the list of words after reading your poem a few times and it boggled my mind. How gracefully you inserted “crap” …and “preaching” actually has substance. Pretty darn good :~)
JH, thank you!
Susan, you created a bit of crazy with this…I could feel, experience the tension of life on the edge.
Thank you, Victoria. I started with the inspiration from my guy, with his bipolar statement. Interesting how the random word generator I used seemed to “give” me the words to explore that further.
Great use of the words. I too loved the last line, but it is only great because ot is the anchor of a ship of great lines.
Henry, thank you for saying so!
Only a thin thread divides the sane from the insane. Magnificent poem, Susan 🙂
Thanks, Celestine. Sometimes, I think I like to cross that line a lot, like a child skipping rope (at least in my poetry(.
I loved “collapsing scream”. I often think many diagnoses aren’t there to cure the patient, but to cure the uncomfortableness we feel when someone doesn’t conform to what we expect.
Good point, Rowan.
Wordsmith!
Thank you, Julie! I was stunned with the ease with which I was able to weave words from the generator into what I wanted to write about. They were a gift. OK, most of them were. Could have done without seeing “crap” in that list.
Excellent!
Thank you!
Great use of these words Susan. Just phenomenal. I need to try that RWG again….
Johnny, I was surprised with what it gave me, and how easily those words wove into what I wanted to say…except crap 😉
& thank you.
It’s amazing what you can weave with random words. I would never have been able to tell if you had not said. And that end is just amazing.
Thanks, Bjorn–I got lucky witht he words it gave me. 😉
Ouch! Or do I hear Nietzsche’s stabbing insights with freedom and deeper happiness behind the apparent chaos. I vote for the later.
Oh, I agree! Definitely more of an FN message here.
So good. Tons to dig out of here and contemplate. Love this approach to exploration and analysis.
Thank you, Eusebia!
That last line is unbelievably powerful – sent shivers down my spine! Wow!!!
Thank you, Tony! I like that line, a gift from the word generator I used.
Ha ha…that last stanza is a doozie and so true, it’s crazy funny and I love every word of this…
Di, thank you! Crazy is the key to this poem 😉
… or we’ve forgotten where (and from whom) the instructions come from.
That too, Laurie.