Saturday, February 11, 2012

IN THE HOUSE OF MOON MADNESS

Some years ago, when almost all of my work was informed by my experiences as a mental health consumer, instead of just most of it ... I learned of Socrates' lofty philosophy regarding the creativity he felt grows from mania through "the deity" - a position I decided I liked very much. It was from that, the idea for this poem was born.

IN THE HOUSE OF MOON MADNESS


"The greatest of our blessings comes to us from mania ... madness coming from the deity
is superior to the sanity of human origin."     Socrates


In the time before uncivilized life
became the norm and the muses
Ruled not only the mind
but the heart and soul
And great thinkers worshipped
in the House of Moon Madness

My sovereign self was sure
and confident and as poetess
I walked in hues of purple
royalty with all attendant
to my moods and whims

For great knowledge was born
only of chaotic thought
and troubled introspection
Truth was a revelation
of the divine
to the manic alone
To be received
with gratitude

I held to my original titles:
Those of maternal power
moon-spirit and Goddess
In the time before life
became uncivilized
and great thinkers
still worshipped
in the House of Moon Madness

S.E.Ingraham©

12 comments:

  1. People often forget that Socrates was not the cold rationalist that his disciple Plato sometimes comes over as. Socrates himself underwent a kind of divine madness, and Plato does recount stories of his being caught up in day-long communion with his daemon. Your hymn to these spirits is quite rightbto remind us that reason is not always the kind of passionless part of the soul so often connected to the image of the clinical scientist. Reason draws us into realms where conscience and the order ofvthe universe is revealed.

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  2. i think sometimes the line is thin from madness to genius... from deep revelation about certain things to losing track totally... your poem just brought the movie "a beautiful mind" to my mind...where it's about the same balancing act..not a poet or philosopher but a mathematician....enjoyed your take on the prompt

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  3. i agree with claudia on that thin line...there are definitely those that suffer mental illness, but we also label many that we do not understand so that we can explain aberations...and for the longest time we have done the same to protect our views of reality...

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  4. I sometimes wonder how the people of long ago saw the world, and based their idea of truth on how they see sun, moon and stars. Though we have gain a lot of knowledge and technology now, I believe we still don't know more than them in the search for truth ~

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  5. From someone who has worked in the care sector ...moon madness was observed during periods of the full moon, people would behave out of character or not to the norm ...think this poem is fab thank you x x

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  6. As someone who has (delicious) tastes of mania now and again (though, admittedly on a very low level), I really appreciated this piece. It has a wonderful stately cadence which works at a powerful counterpoint with your subject. K.

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  7. Some truths here! I agree that great knowledge can be born of chaotic thought. It is when the mind is truly unleased, I think, that the impossible is dreamed possible and a way is found to bring it about! I agree with what Claudia said. There is a fine line oftentimes between genius and madness.

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  8. I love this!!! Especially your title.

    This is my favorite part:

    "My sovereign self was sure
    and confident and as poetess
    I walked in hues of purple
    royalty with all attendant
    to my moods and whims"

    If only chaotic thought and troubled introspection lead to truth and knowledge, I must be rolling in them. ;)

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  9. Excellent in balance and form, and a delight to read, on top of being, in my opinion very strictly true. Mania(or however you want to name the escape from linear reasoning) has a deeper voice that sings an older song, and without some form of that elevator into the subconscious, we become flatter, more confined, less in tune. Last stanza is my favorite with its sonorous recap.

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  10. Really like the Socrates quote. Reason is meaningless without madness and yet madness would be 'without form and void' were it not for reason. It seems to me that poetry, by definition, brings a synthesis of the two.

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  11. Sharon- I love this piece... especially :

    My sovereign self was sure
    and confident and as poetess
    I walked in hues of purple
    royalty with all attendant
    to my moods and whims

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  12. Thanks to all of you for coming here, reading this piece and "getting" it - I have been working on a chapbook for what seems forever about the veil that separates the sane from the insane and this poem has always seemed like a good end piece ... we'll see ... thanks again.

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