Death of a fatherThe Wind of MadnessMy Heart Laid Bare.

Insanity is a swirl: the brain twists as if on a rope:

a tumbleweed, small round tree, whipped by violent air.

Once lunatics were frogmarched, banished, to the sea,

where another brand of wind propelled their ships of fools.

Next they were confined, like masochists in monasteries,

or half-eaten lepers, in dungeons too maggoty for ghouls.

The Age of Enlightenment saw them released on sprees

of anarchy, orgies, noonday masses, lampooning officialdom.

So, once again these putative fruitcakes were seized,

certified, manacled, and caged in humourless asylums.

More recently we have inserted needles, alcohol, and slit

lobes, tried coma, electric shock, drugs: for brains on stilts. 

 

from Salt and Pepper Sonnets 

Eva

grandmotherLife Forcesfor John McEncroe

sixty yearsReferences and Further readinghttp://www.api-network.com/cgi-bin/reviews/jrbview.cgi?n=0868196320&issue=2