I've never writ
a Haiku before
how about this

I leave you in the middle of town
I hope you have a map
to get back to the bus station

Over a cider in the posh end of town
which probably cost us both more
than we could afford

after our afternoon's talk of Tolstoy
& a shared love of Enid Blyton
& musicians we both loved

we talked of what the current government
was doing to the British poor
& you told me of your own

straightened circumstances
as a child, relying on food parcels
from the Church to stay alive

& I told you how in the Soviet Union
& during the Perestroika
there was never any food in the shops

for anyone & how my mother
queued for hours to get a single pint of milk
not knowing if she'd get it

& how our life changed
when we came here
for the better

we come from different worlds,
each has had their problems
this & Poetry is what connects us.

They say
you will be extinct
by 2032

the Queen of Hearts'
favorite past-time
the joy of summer

a sign of class
& breeding
in your time

brought over
from France
during Charles II's reign

the memory
of playing you
in that mansion house

across the  river gorge
amidst the roses
will stay with me forever

as a sign of the Britishness
I lost abroad
& when he left


* Queen of Hearts - from ' Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll

So just how much *******
are you prepared to believe?

Lets see, take a seat
we've got half an hour

or maybe even better
you're locked up

at my mercy
& my team

are giving you drugs
for a diagnosis

I've given you
before we've even talked

& hopefully the drugs
are curing you of life, love, hope

& any despair you're feeling
at being stuck here

what's that?
you've ballooned in weight?

all you do is sleep?
your feet are turning inward?

You're nearly diabetic?
Your hands are always shaking?

I'm shrinking your
unwanted little brain?

A small price to pay
for the promise of freedom

my little puppet
on a string

lets see just how much
******* we can make you believe

I'll make you say it
' I'm ill'

or I'll never let you out
it's just my little whim

you're one of the chosen few
whose life will be shattered in two

kiss goodbye to your emotions
What? You're angry? That's atrocious.

You are dangerous
it's good we locked you up

and what?
You say you're in love?

sheer Erotomania, my dear
we will cure it, never fear

Talking of fear,
I'd say you have paranoia

MHM, Psychosis,
that's right, Momma

Happiness is mania
Sadness is depression

having said that,
you'll hopefully want to **** yourself

after our little session
to confirm my treatment of you

I'm an expert
I've got a degree in *******

no-one has ever
dared to say I'm wrong

so don't you start
I do, you know have a heart

& it beats only for me
so if you want to be free

you'd better **** it up
& suffer

( or also entitled : Just How Much ******* Are You Prepared to Believe)

Confidence - grandiosity
Hope - Delusion
Ambition - grandiosity + delusion
Love - Co-dependency
Unrequited Love & romantic hopes - Erotomania
Sexuality - Hypersexuality
Happiness - Manic mood
Sadness - Depression
Shock - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Emotional - Bipolar
Fear - Paranoia/psychosis
Distrust - Suspicion ( e.g paranoia)
Loneliness - Neediness
Needing connection to others - Co-dependant
Existential doubts - suicidal
Spiritual awakening - psychosis
Sarcasm - Aggression
Loner - socially-withdrawn
Messy - self-neglectful
Angry - dangerous/violent
Faith - dangerous Religisiosity
dubious combination
of some of the above : Schizophrenia

Note : All of these need drugs to 'cure' them so the drugs companies can make a fortune & pay you a premium. Where did you think the money for your salary came from?

& now I know we share Oscar Peterson in common
I want to love you all the more,
till the world ends
Let our beloved rain fall
Let our days howl of our Ginsberg
Plath, Eliot & Dylan
& others, more obscure
Let us buy that Edward Hopper
we both love
& let us sleep in your car
out on the Yorkshire Moors
You're the milk in my coffee
Let me be the billboard
you advertize our love on
lets be breathless metaphors
of each other
the quotation marks
around each others words
high on the ******* of stars
& always read
each others poems
drag each other to open mics
& drink too much
let's make Cupid jealous
of the fiery arrows
we use to stab
one another
if it doesn't work out
& make the Angels
jealous of our heaven
if it does
lets be a restless breeze
that blows
through the world
& stirs each leaf
with our words
lets just be us
fellow hermit
fellow poet
Soulmate
that's
the word