Only poetry defends us. β Leopoldo Maria Panero
A psychiatric Toxicologist
Came to speak to
The toxicological Psychiatrist
As they were both treating Panero
They looked at his case notes
And seemed genuinely shocked
That the meds weren’t working
Maybe it’s worse than we imagined,
Said Ferdière in a death-like tone
Of course it is worse, said Lacan,
As this lunatic represents the limit of our science
How can a Madman write prose like this?
Panero’s existence itself is an Occultic Curse
And we are just puppets in his Universal Circus
Jones Irwin has taught philosophy and education in Dublin since 2001. He has published several monographs on philosophy and aesthetics, including texts on Jacques Derrida’s Deconstruction (Ashgate, 2010) and Slavoj Ε½iΕΎekβs Psychoanalysis (Bloomsbury, 2014). He has published poetry most recently in Poetry London, Espacio Fronterizo (Borderland / Espace FrontiΓ¨re), The Festival Review, and Tofu Ink Press, among others. The Female Rimbaud was nominated by Tofu Ink Press for a Pushcart Award in Autumn 2021. His fiction was also most recently published in The Decadent Review, Kairos Magazine, Critical Read, Into The Void, Mignolo Arts and Wild Roof journal. He is currently preparing a book on existential themes, to be published with Routledge in Winter 2022.