What a flagrant rookie error
To imagine that the poetic frenzy
Should require the descent into literal madness
When poetry scorns the literal
As these leaden lines doubtless show

But the case is subtler than that
The prayer for madness a retrospective revision
Like the rationalization of the dream image
The ravening monster composed of socks
The looming shadow of a teddy bear

Thus the serendipitous discovery
That mental illness really did
Offer a wealth of conflict
Conflict being poetry’s mother’s milk
And can I reach for sanity and write a poem