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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

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