Kleptomania

(Poetry Scales 39) 


Jane Leigh-Perrot was a very sick woman
She couldn’t help herself
What she did was wrong, but she was compelled
She had to steal for her health

Ever since her problem was named
By Freud and other analysts
We began to embrace the dubious faith
That wrong is really just sickness

Today we’ve taken things a bit further
As “sickness” carries… connotations
When people do things that shouldn’t be done
They change rules, trade truth for imaginary
…accommodations