Each pen stroke

forms a pigmented figure

obscure characters

both in letter and image. 

Scratched, scrawled,

sprawling and spidery

sinisterly sibilant. 

My madness is laid bare

an executioner’s arcing axe-strike

severing mind and memory

from flesh and bone vessel. 

These words-a manifesto-

scribbled on newspaper edges,

bar napkins, and envelope backs

incoherent and indecipherable 

were they worth it?