poetry of
Marcus
Ten
Low
Online Poetry Collection
DEFINE: PSYCHOSIS
First self-published in Neopoets
When told I had psychosis,
the first thing I did was ask what it is:
I thought maybe a coma,
where you can still think and act,
and why being thrown into a cell with glass walls
would fix that.
I thought of something out of Psycho,
and the fact that I needed four wardsmen
to dress me, although I screamed blue murder,
and the nurses rushed to inject me
with...anti-psychosis.
More-complex theories emerged upon consultation
where, it was suggested, the two halves of my brain
could not communicate with each other,
if in fact it could be proven that I had a brain at all.
Being convivial at times when it was appropriate to be serious
showed—not a lewdness or higher, more-positive intellect—
but rather a distraction, which untreated
would result in all forms of public misdemeanour.
“Psychosis” was defined in the 1840s
when it was thought peculiar to be unable to confide
one’s feelings to one’s fellow man.
When asked a simple question, such as
“What day of the week is it?”
answering factually would prove, at least, being attentive,
and assumed the social skills not to make a huge JOKE out of it.
Marcus Ten Low
PLAGUE
A breeding-ground for a plague of wimps,
Their arms dangling limp like jellies,
Necks worming to see the sun,
Curious, arching their backs,
Coiling their arms and legs around
Things, objects, curios along edges,
Seething, sliding, smoothing,
Grotesque and bitter, eyes bulging,
Brains too, immense blobs of hate,
Oozing thoughts, and moving sofas,
Plodding for miles toward a horizon,
Looping and sneering in the fulsome heat.
Marcus Ten Low
A SIGH AT THE MIRROR
ugly, i wonder why
Marcus Ten Low
CELLO
one
note
at
a
time
makes this cello
sing in sonorous
dignity,
so wise
so melodious
its stringingness
you’d think
it were
a
being.
Marcus Ten Low
A FOND REJECTION LETTER
Write a wistful rejection letter, Sue.
Put oomph and personality into it, do.
Dear applicant
We love your style, your guile, your needling,
a certain twitchy contentiousness,
a belligerence so vile,
a brilliantly denturous and personable smile.
So you want to have the role,
and save from the depths of hell your soul?
Go on, like us here and there and everywhere,
believe in what you want to do,
moving from place to place,
with that beaming, smiling face.
We love your nerve, your verve,
hell we even like your verse, and will read it
in reverse. Let’s not be terse:
We think you sane, enough to not
cry out in pain when something happens
that leads one to complain.
We love you and revere you,
would keep a wax version of you seated
there, and worship you
amid the clutter on your desk.
We’d like to keep on file your payment request;
but should you decide to be a pest,
we will be brusque.
And now you can leave,
and start your entrepreneur journey
right now, for I dont give a cow.
You were never a good fit, anyhow—
goodbye, and please dont ask us why.
Marcus Ten Low
Contact
Thank you for reviewing my online poetry collection. Please get in touch to find out more about me and my work.
Marc Ten Low, C/- PO Box 601 Mawson ACT 2607 Australia
+61 434 419 598