10
professional dreamers do not show
their ideas to just anyone no
professional dreamers do not boast
of their plans to unbelievers
professional dreamers put on their
black skirts and suits
every morning is a chance
to make a vision reality
every morning a chance
to do their work in confidence
they could be artists
they could be ordinary folks
with a job to do
in their cosmic costumes
they could be on the train
or behind you in line
professional dreamers do not show
you who they are
chameleons with serious
metaphysical intent
professional dreams disappear at will
and only later do you see
what they’ve left behind
26
i have a condition
an indoctrination
that gives me knowledge about the world
some people call it an illness
i have seen things no-one else has seen
heard things that “are not there”
my life has been both poorer
& richer for it
at the beginning it was all fear
but sometimes there is ecstasy
a bold feeling of power
a united expression of love
sometimes i cry
& still believe the stories in my head
these days i try not to get tricked
being sane is more boring but it is also
more comforting & now
i look for magic in the morning commute
i take my pills night & day
& the secret knowledge is kept at bay
48
my madness is a burnt orange fox
most of the time it’s contained to its burrow
occasionally it draws a streak across life —
like a mandarin cloud its hues echo
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