Poetry and Madness

When poetry and madness mix
And beer in minds like semen flows,
When wisdom parts and reason goes
To hell, while trembling hands in ink
Scribble another line of nonsense,
And you can hear the noisy creak
Of mouths opening, saying nothing,
And tears end with endless laughing,
Laughing at something you can’t see,
When taste and smell and touch can’t speak
The numbness that your heart is feeling,
When life’s a bore, while death’s too thrilling,
And silence says more than it seems,
The moon is mad, and man still madder,
When you have climbed but lost the ladder
To find your top does not exist,
Then you can scream: “I’m a genius!
I’m your star, your greatest hit!
I’m your penis, your Messiah,
I’m your everlasting fire!”
For words, like phantoms in the mist,
Flash in the mind and disappear
In smiles of bimbos served with beer,
And frankly no one gives a shit.

   September 10, 1993
--Alexander Shaumyan