John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Sheepshead Review, Poetry Salzburg Review and Hollins Critic. Latest books, Leaves On Pages and Memory Outside The Head are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Lana Turner and International Poetry Review.
I’M NOT WEIRD
For a long time,
my usual connection with reality
had become unbearable.
Then we met
and I welcomed the detachment.
from the everyday.
But I’m a lover
not a schizophrenic.
My tragedy is not destiny.
I am wounded
but not torn apart.
I am victim of one particular woman
not harsh and unescapable fate.
I do not make my home in delirium.
I don’t need medication to resume
my place in the world.
Yes, there are some days
I'd rather watch a woman
with a beard of barbed wire
and wonder why she doesn't shave.
And I’d rather think about what catches
in that hair: some greasy motes of egg,
a drop of indelible coffee.
And I wonder who kisses her?
Do his lips make a tunnel
in that mountain of fur?
But that’s normal.
The invisible scratches all over my face
are normal.
