Madness Me

There's a carnival raging on the inside

and the ringmasters' eyes are

red UFO's between the trees

and his grin is sardonic and wide

with teeth clattering like broken piano keys:

'Why are you here? Come to the coaster!’

Have a ride, take a snap, strike a pose,

on marlins and clouds and bees

sucking honey from the master's nose

that covers the carousels and the goblins' chalice

that feeds the griffins and dragons and ghosts.’

'Hold on tight!' said the Hatter to Alice

and listen to solve the riddle

that clowns spell out with a Piper's fiddle:

‘Read the twirls as the hurricane blows

and dot the i's with a unicorn's horn

and realize they are here now and

they were before you were born!’

So when you take the pills

or forsake the thrills

look at the clock and

rewind the time,

and admit to the mirror and say:

'The circus in my head has never been real,

but the daemons there have always been mine!'

-MM

The poem explores the idea of the mind as a place where our thoughts and emotions can feel like a chaotic and uncontrollable carnival.

We are all unique, this is true. But no matter how special we think we are, our problems are not. There is not a trial or tragedy that has not happened before, and there is not a person, alive or dead, that has not triumphed over it.

Lesson. You don’t need drugs or any super formula to be victorious. You just need to own your issues, endure the circus, accept the things that cannot change, and know that those you can control, you can overcome. If it’s been done before, you can do it too, and if not, you can be the first example for others to follow.