[Newspoetry] Don Quixote Faces Society

[DL Emerick]

Acting sanely is inexplicable,
but it appears to be rational
when it is explained in words,
paint a picture of the possible,
detail a model of the reasonable.

There is already a value judging
going on in there, a prejudice,
the idea that one is only sane,
when others more or less approve
of how you tend to your own life.

Internalized are to be the norms,
of what others may expect of you,
you are deemed sane when obeying,
insane when you choose otherwise,
at least as other people rule.

There is no substantive judgment,
only a proportioned relationship,
between the means and the ends,
where ends are taken as they are,
and access from means is reviewed.

A wide margin of error is allowed,
and ends are judged when harm falls
to some one or more persons affected,
but otherwise it's all discretion,
allowing for us, the idiosyncrazies.

Still, the thought of being isolated,
in a ward wearing some white jacket,
is enough to drive a sane man mad,
the mere thought of being imprisoned,
because you violate usual normalcies.