Jefferson Hansen

Schizophrenics

the people I know
with schizophrenia

are a far cry from “schizos”—
the stereotypical guy
drooling in his beard
who takes a break
from braying at the moon
only long enough to ask
for a quarter

as for violence
most violent acts
are committed
by so-called healthy folks

the actual dangerous category

if a person with schizophrenia
is violent
does the condition
have anything to do
with the act

why is it okay
for the TV news
to mention “a history
of mental illness”
when no relevant link
has been established
between the condition
and the crime

prisons are full
of the mentally ill
but what sane person
wouldn’t go crazy
there

time to consider cause
and effect

time to think through
the implications
of metaphor

would we say “drunk like
an Irishman” or
“stupid like a Polish
person”

why “crazy like
a schizo”

the people I know
most reckless with
others’ feelings
are horrifically “healthy”

you would probably
be surprised to learn
how many schizophrenics
you interact with
on a daily basis

what is it to stuff
a human being
into a sealed
metal category



wind of a reason


without
the wind of a reason
aimed in a particular
direction
started walking
like a root
curling and
branching its way
toward water—
it thinks
in its way

Jefferson Hansen has been publishing in a variety of contexts for several decades.

 

Austin McCarron

A City of Palms


The summer is eating
the colours in my room
with teeth of blue water.

The sea falls on my beach
with
stones of light. My blood is

amazed at the whiteness of
sand.

Birds drowse in shining trees.

The sky is on fire with matches
of gold
and like a visionary animal
it wrestles with some great hurt.

I sit at a loss, in a city of
palms, browner than faces of rain.

Tatjana Debeljački

Familiar With Insanity

– am I gifted person? Is it important, since I no longer exist?!
 

I was sailing through the endless space, still angry at the death that came in malevolent
time. The success was feasible. The space is so cold, and my physicus, which I imagined,
transformed into the powerful energy that has no use. I did not have a plan.
 

– Probably I do not need the plan here, – as if the thought was spotted.
 

From some star constellation, a man in white floated towards me. He was tampering
something about my bodiless being, and then suddenly disappeared.
 

People around me were freely walking in their pajamas, it was only me bound to bed

Tatjana Debeljački was born on 23.04.1967 in Užice. Writes poetry, short stories, stories and haiku. Member of Association of Writers of Serbia -UKS since 2004 and Haiku Society of Serbia - HDS Serbia, HUSCG – Montenegro and HDPR, Croatia. A member of Writers’ Association Poeta, Belgrade since 2008, HKD Croatia since 2009 and a member of Poetry Society "Antun Ivanošić" Osijek since 2011. Deputy of the main editor (cooperation with magazines & interviews).

http://diogen.weebly.com/redakcijaeditorial-board.html

Editor of the magazine "Poeta", published by Writers’ Association "Poeta"

http://www.poetabg.com/

Union of Yugoslav Writers in Homeland and Immigration – Belgrade, Literary Club Yesenin – Belgrade. Up to now, she has published four collections of poetry: “A HOUSE MADE OF GLASS “, published by ART – Užice in 1996; collection of poems “YOURS“, published by Narodna knjiga Belgrade in 2003; collection of haiku poetry “VOLCANO”, published by Lotos from Valjevo in 2004. A CD book “A HOUSE MADE OF GLASS” published by ART in 2005, bilingual SR-EN with music, AH-EH-IH-OH-UH, published by Poeta, Belgrade in 2008. Her poetry and haiku have been translated into several languages. Email/Websites/Blogs http://debeljacki.mojblog.rs/