Collective Madness ~ Poetry for the Insane
John is a contemporary poet who uses the rhyming styles of the classics to discuss current issues.
The Mad Hatter's Tea Party: Image by Prawny from Pixabay
Word Prompt: Madness
A friend and fellow writer Brenda Arledge has been sharing weekly word prompts
"Word Prompts Help Creativity is an article that includes a word prompt as a challenge for us to write something of our own choosing like a short story or poem. The hope is that this word helps us to find inspiration while having some fun writing.
The word prompt for week five is madness."
(*paraphrased from: Word Prompts Help Creativity/Week 5)
The following three poems are my attempt to use the word prompt provided. Thank you for sharing the inspiration, Brenda.
Curious: Image by loulou Nash from Pixabay
Pixabay Free Photos
MADNESS ~ an Acrostic Poem
Madness is chaotic
An illness of the mind
Destroying those around you
Not noticing the signs
Extreme and foolish behaviour
Shapes these crazy times
Sanity is missing from such fragile minds.
Madness: Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay
Pixabay Free Photos
The Madness Within
My mind’s like a volcano
Sitting dormant, so it seems.
But suddenly it may erupt
With full force so extreme.
Is this madness or compulsion
That wracks my troubled brain,
Or some uncontrolled psychosis
That renders me insane?
Is my life reality,
Or is this fantasy I live?
I cannot tell the two apart,
It’s caused my soul to grieve.
Will madness be my nemesis
That hounds me to my grave,
Or will my sanity prevail
And my sad life be saved?
Image by t_watanabe from Pixabay
Using One Sentence to Write a Poem
For the following poem, I used the method described in my recent article How to Write a Poem Using One Sentence as a Prompt.
I chose the following quote by Wei Hui:
"Crazy people are considered mad by the rest of society only because their intelligence isn’t understood."
We’re a Mad Lot
Crazy are the different ones
People who do not conform.
Are they really as perceived
Considered to be weird?
Mad by any other name,
By any other values,
The rich may be eccentric,
Rest upon their wealthy laurels.
Of course their status pandered too,
Society adjusts its standards
Only to suit ulterior motives.
Because the mad embarrass, mental illness has a stigma
Their presence must be kept low key.
Intelligence can’t be assessed by any rational means,
Isn’t relevant at all, or at least not plainly clear.
Understood? I hope so because we’re a mad lot after all.
© 2021 John Hansen
