Rubble Bubbles

I wrote Rubble Bubbles on August 27, 2001, just after I got out of Bellin Psychiatric Center. It describes the state of my bedroom (and my head) at the time. I thought it was appropriate to publish it here now that I'm organizing my office/art room. The poem was among the papers I found while I was cleaning.

Rubble Bubbles

Rubble bubbles up
from the floor like a geyser
from the underworld,

Bubbles up the bed
through the mattress, through the sheets
right to the older mess

left there before the last.
Mania's rising up
rising from times of

Idol-worship, Dionysus's
maidens- - Maenads- - dancing
on heads, laughing mindlessly

But my mess merely
bubbles up in laughter.
I later only cry at messes.

During the time I wrote this, I was doing a considerable amount of reading of Greek mythology. I just now had to go back and see what the Dionysus-Maenad reference meant. Maenads are women in the cult of Dionysus. Maenad literally means "madwoman" in Greek while mania means "madness." Thus, mania and Maenad have the same root. Click here for more information on Maenads.

Here is a picture of Maenads and Satyrs