The Genius Madman

The Joker's character got me thinking. I honestly think he was a genius, a hero of sorts, before he became a villain. The finding of certain secrets can corrupt a person, even drive them completely mad...

 

Tired and exhausted

My body demands rest.

Aching muscles throb

And my heart pounds in my chest

Sleepless dreams come plaguing me,

When all I want is dreamless sleep.

Alternate realities

Play out in my mentality.

Can barely move

And my strength is gone

So why the hell

Will sleep not come?

 

It must be because…

 

My thoughts

          ZIP

                   ZING

                             BOING

                   PING

 

All around inside my head.

I contemplate insanity,

The depths of man’s mentality,

The lengths of our humanity

Before we reach animosity.

We could kill,

Each normal person

Has the ability

To end a life.

But here we stand

Under our rules

Trying to protect

Ourselves from us.

What if someone broke the rules,

What if someone didn’t care?

What if a genius lost his mind

And did what no philosopher would dare?

He could manipulate our minds,

Use his experiments to toy with us.

His pastime, his passion is bleak,

Twisted in its total chaos.

But this man did what he did

Knowing he’d be hated.

The genius, not the madman,

Should he not be commended?

He had the courage to take the chance,

To test his theories of man’s advance.

Can we blame him for his fall,

When he saw right through

The falseness of it all?

Author's Note

Madman, or genius? Make your own conclusions...

Reviews

[Legion]

Well, they always tell me there isn't much difference between the two right before they give me my pills. I like the questions you put forth here. They are ones I have contemplated for many years. Great write. Love the way you twisted and changed it in the middle. Oh, I think "pastimes" is actually spelled "pasttimes". Will have to check on it. Good write.

Brilliant rhyming and flow, it had me sort of chanting along as I read it.
Ha! This piece of writing is like you! Brilliant! =D

And I agree with you on the Joker's past life. Something had to have made him the way he became.

[Ice Queen of the Vampir..]

I think the Joker is both. I love how dark the Joker is in The Dark Knight, it's a welcome change from the cartoon Jokers. Out of all the villains Batman has fought in the comics and cartoons, the Joker was the best.....although I do love Catwoman. :D This is a fantastic poem and I love it. Awesome write!!!

Heather

[absurdist!]

What I like about the characterization of the Joker is that it allows the viewer to offer various interpretations. The Joker is a whole character in the film; I mean there is no origin story. We are presented with this made-up lunatic and left to pick at his brain however we please.

When it comes to the genius or madman question, I believe the Joker is a bit of both. There is a fine line between genius and insanity and the Joker just so happened to cross into the wrong. Your poem made me think. I enjoy thinking. Fantastic work.

[Voltaire Mephisto (aka ..]

I like the way the poem started out normally then the tone and font changed to represent the changed man.

[eric mccarthy]

you did an excellent job with this, mr. stussy. 'the dark knight' will go down in history as the deepest comic book film of all time. forget 'batman & robin' with the governor of california and the n****e suits. 'the dark knight' is a film that makes you think.

'you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villian.'

[ShAdOw]

HE WAS A GENIUS!!!! I LOVED IT!!


the joker and me are married btw :-D

[Joseph - Michael]

I'm a die-hard fan of The Joker as far as I could remember and someone just told me about this piece, so I just had to check it out. For a starter, I must say that I'm quite impressive with this piece. I couldn't argue with any of them, because it's pretty much so true and there's a lot of unanswered questions that have been bugging me (and the readers) as in; "What's so damn special about The Joker? Sure, there are all kind of really cool villians out there, yet The Joker remained one of the best anyway" I guess it's because he's a real classic? Or did he just "improved" as the years passed by? Well, we all have our own thoughts and opinions about The Joker and it just never end. I used to read "Batman" comics when I was a kid, over 20 years later, it just get better and better...

Sorry for rambling, I just love The Joker, so don't mind me...

Anyway, it's all still great there and I seriously enjoyed reading this piece, even when you've set up the fonts like that, it made this writing even more interesting that way. By the way, this is what I believe; He's a genius who just want to have some fun for himself...

[R J Askew]

This is very gripping. There is great drama in it and the gear change form tired and desperate to full on releases a torrent of words posing alllllllllllllll kinds of timeless moral questions on the nature of being...are we to be hero-poet f***-god blow torches or innocent gentlemen of peace minding our own business in quiet corners of the world? It is manic and very creative. You have a good visual eye, too. But the best thing here is the gear change and the rush.

[The Mad Prophet]

Geniusly Mad of course. This poem is well done, expressed, and writen. Great Job. I do like the theory presented, and to top it off, a few things I write, one must be willing to chart the unknown, stare into chaos, feel the opisite contrast in order to see the good in anything, and find true wisdom. Agian, awsome poem.

[Larissa G.]

It complements the depth of that movie so well. It's wonderful, truly.