Folie à deux (literally, "a madness shared by two") is a rare psychiatric syndrome in which a symptom of psychosis (particularly a paranoid or delusional belief) is transmitted from one individual to another. The same syndrome shared by more that one person may be called folie à trois, folie à quatre, folie à famille or even folie à plusieurs (madness of many). Recent psychiatric classifications refer to the syndrome as shared psychotic disorder (DSM-IV) (297.3) and induced delusional disorder (folie à deux) (F.24) in the ICD-10, although the research literature largely uses the original name.

"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." - Diderot (1713- 1784)

comfortably comatose

rich warm mocha swirling down my throat,
soft purr of cellphone in my pocket-
(excuse me, i have to take this one),

feel-good coldplay tunes playing
along the twinkling corridors of an airport,

pot pourri of chanel & dior smells downtown,
people saying "please" & "excuse me"
& no one bumps into you - they carefully circumnavigate,

warm, clean linen fresh out of the dryer,
hot showers in a steam of herbal essences,
wow! this new shaving cream does smell better!

an iraqi woman in black is wailing for her dead kid
in a prize-winning photo in my time magazine,
& i brush the milano cookie crumbs off the glossy page
to better see the lines on her careworn face

that starbucks girl is grinning again
with the trademark feverish hospitality,
yes, that's all for today, thank you,

no more of this please.

a couple of 24 hours ago- a lifetime ago-
i stepped in some human feces,
& smeared it off my sneaker on the edge of the pavement
on a street in calcutta,
as a naked kid & a dog with three legs
quietly watched my elaborate prudishness.