Derek

Derek
Flipped out.
A life of loneliness,
The pressure from religion,
A screaming intensity of excitement and activity
(Over nothing)
Followed by a decline into sadness and despair
(Of nothing) -
Too cruel to say he’s gone,
But he went.
Derek
High
And Derek
Low
Blossomed in defeat,
The flower and shell opening,
The world carved up before him -
All was open, for those who knew.
But openness doesn’t get you a job,
Won’t help you find a girlfriend -
The fragility and tenderness of the underside exposed
Does nothing in this world
Without
Stability.
Derek.
Was it chemicals in his brain?
Did he really go insane?
Or was the ‘flip’ a bigger version of our daily lives
When we too jump and jerk around in surprise
At what Life throws our way?
Derek had to stay in a
Home.
Well - that was the end of a life short-lived,
The roll-ups, the baccy, the clothes slightly tacky -
No, I can’t go on.
Derek
Lived,
But now the world was different, at least for him,
And I looked In and On.