• The Liar Poet

    I can write poems


    about feelings I do not feel

    I am a liar poet. My poems lack

    true depth
    true insight
    true connection

    But maybe the words I write lose their writer the moment they’re read

    How about that?

    This one is yours now.

  • The Inevitability of Madness

    I am diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. I’ve been psychosis free for 3 years. So safe to say I don’t have a chronic case. But I am susceptible to future psychosis in times of stress or after mind altering drug use.

    Sometimes I look to the future and get a bit scared. Each time I have had psychosis it gets a little worse. First lasted a few days, second a week and the third and latest was two whole months. I worry that the next will be big and it will be bad.

    The psychosis is delusional. No hallucinations or hearing voices. Flight of ideas & beliefs held not based in the accepted reality which most of us live in. The first two episodes were paranoid and dark in content. The third was manic. It was a pretty good time in places. Life was magical and I was often euphoric. But it is completely destabilising to your psyche and it interrupts your life. You cannot get anything done. It scares the people around you and breaks the hearts of those closest to you. There is a communication barrier, they won’t get your ideas, and you will find their world dull and boring.

    So I do my best in the time I have sane to boost my mental health. I have a firm support group with my friends and family and I practice meditation and mindfulness.

    On the internet the rate of remission for schizophrenia that is floating around is around 36%. I’m not even sure what that rate means. There’s a high chance that I’ll have an episode again in my life time. Is it inevitable? Not sure. I’ll keep you updated.

  • Hippos

    Sorry I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation about about sub-Saharan African aquatic mammals. Did you know hippopotamuses communicate through snorts and grunts? It’s true! These snorts and grunts cause subtle vibrations in the water. Other hippos can tell who’s snorting this and who’s grunting that by inhaling the bubbles that are in the minute water vibrations. The gas reaches their tongue and the taste determines the sender. Hippos can taste another hippopotamus from a mile off! This wine tastes great, doesn’t it? In fact, their sophisticated taste makes hippos perfect sommeliers. Who said they can’t tell a merlot from a pinot noir?

    I knew a hippo sommelier, they were a terrible drunk and they would only spit out the wine at people’s faces. But a hippo sommelier was such a curiosity that they got away with such awful manners. I think they chose this evenings wine selection…

    Oh you have to make a call? Take care, and if you see that hippo tell them the wine tastes rather dry with this fish. If there’s wine on their chin, be on guard for a spit!

Hello! I’m Tom (he/him), based in London, UK. I write prose & poetry, also some small reflections I want to share. Enjoy 🙂

I have a Youtube channel where I post creative things sometimes.