he is a manic
barely suppressed
creative genius

and a depressed
non-conformist

a total artist

on fire with ideas
and drowning in
inky black sludge

his soul stuck
in both places

two sides that
repell each other
like the positive
and negative poles
of a magnet

from that struggle
comes the art

you might think
that being bi-polar
is the most natural
thing on earth

since the earth
itself is bi-polar

no they said
you are broken
so take these pills
to fix you

and you will be
no longer burning
no longer trapped
like a sloth
in a tar pit

you will be free

and so the burning
of his soul
ended

out it crawled
from the sludge

and there it sat
not moving
feeling nothing
creating nothing

no more pain
no more joy

and no more art