Poetry from Petar Penda : Madness & Futility

Madness

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.”
W. Shakespeare, Hamlet

All men and women are mad and
Only madness can keep us normal
In this frantic world.
Some hide their madness 
by religious zeal and fervour,
Others by art and craft,
Gardening and meticulous housekeeping,
Then by arranging books in colours
And by keeping the order of all things,
Pencils, diaries, post-its and pins.
And the rest of us, obvious lunatics,
We can't hide our chaotic minds: 
They are seen in the mess on our desks and bags,
Our wrinkled clothes and discordant colours,
Shabby, underlined books with dog ears.
This madness has a method in it,
This madness saves us from the world.


Futility

The strength of mind is opposed
To the weakness of the body
A rock is turned into dust
When the pain comes from
The source of its joy.
The pain and joy collide 
And crash the stone
In little particles
Irreversible pieces
Useless to you
Nuisance to me
And to the world.

But there must be some sense
Of this irredeemable transformation
A sense which escapes us.
And this escape makes the pain bigger
And we ask vain questions
why us and what this life is for.


Bio: Petar Penda is a professor of English and American literature (University of Banja Luka) and a translator. His translations have been published in renowned journals in the USA and the UK. His poetry was published by "Fevers of the Mind", " Lothlorien Poetry Journal", "A Thin Slice of Anxiety", "Trouvaille Review" and others.