Man Gone Mad

A poem

Art by badpalette

I don’t know why
I decide to go straight
instead of turning right
as I usually do
going back home
only to see
this friend of mine
who used to fight
the same fight I do
at the Café

What’s he doing there?
He has this craze
in his eyes
it’s the look of a wild
rational animal

I go in and ask him
how he’s doing
he says oh man I’m a bit lost
and I say what’s the matter
and then he asks me
do I know Silvana?
yea I know Silvana
and he knows I know her, too
but I cut the guy some slack
and let that slide
because he looks like
he needs a break from it all
he then tells me
what happened
between them
last night

They spent the
night together
in bed
and now he’s bit by love
for a woman whose heart
belongs to another man
for everybody knows
that Silvana loves
her guy
though occasionally
she enjoys having fun
with others
Silvana
a happy woman

“My Gee,” he says
“I’m in love with her”
and then I tell him
he’s been playing
with fire
and that right there
is how getting burned
feels like
“I wish I’d see her again”
is all he says
I can feel his despair
sprouting out of him
melting the iron of reason
corroding his eyes
the poor devil
as if he needs potion
to undo a spell
I say go back to Philly, man
go see your wife
get out of here
do you realize the mess
you’re in?

But nothing
will snap him out of
the smell of the woman
he’s in love with
and the entrancing
recollections he has
from last night

© June 2025, Luis Rosa