Madness, by M.J. Arcangelini

The Veiled Bust, or The Veiled Nun, by artist unknown (Italy) c. 1863

Madness

Moments of near serenity cross the face from
Time to time, fleeting, ghostly, insubstantial.
 
Otherwise a simple empty blank, an erasure
Of emotion, awareness, the stillness of absence
 
The way some poets take the words of others, strike
out certain ones leaving a few to claim as their own.
 
Deep in a molten part of the white marble, beneath
Immobile stone, emotions roil and turn on their host.  
 
Suppressed rage and fear, hide behind the stone folds
Of a veil carved of multiple psychotropic medications.
 
Scaffolding of sanity over a skeleton of self-destruction,
Desire to which one must never admit, but always feel,
 
Trundling beneath closed eyelids, the last layer of veil 
Separating self from world, earth, the hearts of others.
 
M.J. Arcangelini
​
M.J. (Michael Joseph) Arcangelini was born 1952 in western Pennsylvania. He has resided in northern California since 1979. His work has been published in many magazines, online journals, over a dozen anthologies, & six collections, the most recent of which is Pawning My Sins from Luchador Press, 2022. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2018.