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Can I play with madness

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Written for Iron Maiden contest sponsored by Robert James Liguori

"Can I play with madness? Give me the sense to wonder To wonder if I'm free Give me a sense of wonder To know I can be me Give me the strength to hold my head up Spit back in their face Don't need no key to unlock this door Gonna break down the walls" Can I Play with Madness - Iron Maiden Taught to follow, not to question Learn by rote, no self expression Accept the law, do not create Do not open the floodgates Fear the space inside your head Uncatalogued and filled with dread Do not cross beyond thought In madness trap, you'll get caught Can I play with madness? It's the devil's game Can I play with madness? Only yourself to blame Can I play with madness? You're all the same, same, same! Can I play with madness? You'll go up in flames Why ask the sane about what they fear Boundaries do not need to be clear Perhaps I won't find my way back But a mind untravelled seems out of whack Going where there are no guides Facts are smashed as worlds collide Disentangle from weighted rope Escape from despair with a sliver of hope Can I play with madness? Perhaps there is no choice Can I play with madness? Madness needs my voice Can I play with madness? Can I play with madness? Can I play with madness?

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thriveni c mysore

Date: 3/22/2025 1:35:00 AM

congratulations on your win dear poet. cheers!!!

Robert James Liguori

Date: 3/21/2025 10:14:00 AM

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading your poem. It was so well done. Congrats on placing.

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/21/2025 11:25:00 AM

Thank you so much Robert, think I'm getting into the swing of it now :)

David Kavanagh

Date: 3/16/2025 6:31:00 AM

Heya Dilly what a great alternative lyric you’ve come up with here, for (Can I play with madness) I’m pretty sure Bruce Dickinson would be happy to belt this version out, what a great vocalist he is and took Maiden to a higher plane, well he is a qualified jumbo jet pilot after all, although it would probably be best if he refrained from singing this one over the airwaves whilst flying lol! Brilliant! Cheers David

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/16/2025 11:15:00 AM

Thanks David, their lyrics are pretty involved so I decided on writing whatever came to mind rather than getting too deep and meaningful and it inadvertently got rather deep anyway haha. I can always tell him about my time on stage with GnR if he needs to check my credentials lol

Duke Beaufort

Date: 3/15/2025 6:37:00 PM

Di11y, first of all, your picture on the home page with the three split apart portraits really got my attention. This poem reminds me so much of thoughts I harbored in school for years. If we are lucky, we have role models who show us how to become powerful in a good way and with a good heart as our motivation. This is a wonderful expression of the effect confinement and doubt have on a mind hoping for freedom of expression. How can we find who we are if blocked from this experience? Smiles!

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/16/2025 1:07:00 AM

Thanks Duke, this was written in the spirit of a rock song for the contest rather than overly personal, however probably some of the sites recent edgy debates on gender etc have found their way into it. We tend to live in echo chambers and mine does not have the bigotry we've seen on the site. It's been shocking to say the least. The right to explore individuality that is not harming anyone else without condemnation from those who can't understand is an important topic. Thanks for your supportive comment.

Gary Radice

Date: 3/15/2025 2:51:00 AM

Just brilliant. Cheers - Gary

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/15/2025 4:04:00 AM

Lol ;D

Gary Radice
Date: 3/15/2025 3:37:00 AM

I think if I asked Bruce to collaborate on a poem with me he'd probably run to the hills.:) Cheers - Gary

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/15/2025 3:31:00 AM

Thanks Gary, I have opened a page to write for this contest at least 5 times and drew a blank but it just flowed nicely this morning. Thank you for your encouragement. I think once I stopped trying to rewrite the actual songs and just used a prompt from the lyrics it took the pressure off. I am tempted to give Bruce and call and see if he wants to send his private jet over to discuss a collaboration haha :)

Lin Lane

Date: 3/15/2025 1:48:00 AM

"But a mind untravelled seems out of whack" That's an awesome line, Dilly. I think it would be madness not to open the mind's floodgates. Even AI has more freedom than that.

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/15/2025 3:24:00 AM

Thanks Lin, I wrote this one first thing this morning and that expression felt dragged up from somewhere I couldn't quite bring to mind. I considered dropping it but decided rock songs have full poetic license :) I think there has been a bit of carry over from my last few poems into this one too. Thanks for your comment