Poetry, prose, music, wisdom, honesty, danger, stuff...
A deep, thoughtful and illuminating poem, written over a two month period by a bipolar 1 sufferer, in current episode "mania".
Feel free to download or printout your own copy (via a computer) ... Or buy it here!
Joe’s distilled second‑hand testament
Gaza
is a short walk
from Nahal Oz.
Risk is narrative when survived.
His first poem told the truth
without knowing how.
Honesty arrived slowly
like a habit, while he read aloud,
walked dogs and called it adulthood.
Life has too many axes to resolve.
Unity is a rumour.
Trust fractures.
Models mislead.
Paranoia begins
in childhood circuitry,
but compete with the self -
you can stand, because mountains
are ordinary to those who live beneath them.
Loneliness dissolves ritual.
Humour connects briefly.
Crowds fear aloneness
and build systems
to manage it.
Anxiety is the gap
between data and interpretation.
Recursion without a base case
resembles delusion.
Childhood pressure
might make adulthood soft.
Meditation slows the loop.
Life refuses acceleration.
Impersonation invites use.
You revert to the template.
Money sharpens conflict.
Depression follows.
Biology is indifferent.
Return to the playground.
Religion persists even without gods.
Paths diverge so no two align.
Find a god if you need one.
Scripture is authored.
Aloneness is structural.
He no longer walks dogs.
He knows his distortions
better than the world.
Nothing is absolute.
Choose early.
Hope probability
is kind.
Risk your life
to feel alive.
Some truths endure.
The rest
is noise.
6/6/26