Emotional Storm Poem by Margaret Alice Second

Seeking refuge in the surreal atmosphere
of the opera Tales of Hoffmann, my mind
imploding, falling in upon itself in violent
reaction to an overdose of politics

No comfort as yet in the safety of the library,
no intellect left - cannot reflect - a strangling
headache, got a book to cushion the leftover
splinters of my emotions, to cool the fever

Of hatred for cold political texts that reduce
me to the state of a vegetable, Jung’s tests
said this reaction is immature, everybody
must learn to get along without the lure

Of imagination and beauty; Sonia Choquette
said we should be inured to images of pain,
violence and suffering; so be it, I cannot pass
the threshold of pain caused by such studies

Tried so hard I lost my mind, feels like my
brain cannot recuperate - no synapse will
ever fire again, listening to Barcarolle over
and over, the only calming sound

In this emotional storm...