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                                       The laughing Academy
                                             by Gary Brown

Albert Hall.

It was while living the life of a vagrant
that Albert came to understand the true meaning
of violence and intolerance.
  
On the streets of Mercuria 
there are few things 
that are more destructive 
to the soul 
than loneliness, 
Albert was alone most of the time.
  
Alcohol helped to ease the pain 
of living but it only proved 
to be a temporary respite.  
Regardless of all the odds 
he managed to retain a shallow 
semblance of sanity 
although he made a game 
of outwardly acting 
in a deranged manner.
  
He even managed 
to write a chorus 
to a song 
that heretofore had remained 
trapped in his obsessive thoughts:

         ÒViolence and loneliness they get all the blame,
         while life in the academy remains just the same.Ó

The outcome of this dubious song 
writing event 
presented Albert with an extraordinarily 
difficult problem; 
his whole persona 
became like Rudolf Hess 
hopelessly incarcerated 
in Spandau prison.
  
Everybody involved 
with the prisoner 
berated the audience 
using endless emissions 
of cerebral injustice, 
but they secretly supported 
the process 
by sliding through life 
as if they were freaks 
from a carnival of broken stereotypes.

I remember meeting Albert 
that splendid morning, 
we were bathed 
in the anorexic sunlight 
of winter 
and divided before the world 
like an undisciplined army 
marching through the garden 
of a man called George.  
The silence of our momentum 
roared 
but nobody heard it 
because they were busy 
trying to avoid 
the shallow nebulosity 
associated with materialism 
in a culture of recalcitrant children.


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The laughing Academy is copyright 1998 by Gary Brown