Pat Duggan

Pat Duggan Poems

Pat Duggan Biography

Pat Duggan is the pen-name of a research scientist based in northern England. His day job involves lecturing to students, writing research papers and trying to be a half-decent husband and parent. Having been put off poetry at school, he gradually returned to it, taking particular pleasure in the challenge that formal structures impose on the flow of ideas. Some of his work is personal, touching on a history of anxiety and depression, though a sometimes surreal sense of humour has a habit of breaking through. His perfect day would be a long walk through wild countryside, followed by a couple of beers and an early night. He likes cats, and the feeling seems to be mutual.)

The Best Poem Of Pat Duggan

Depressed Vilanelle

They say depression's like exhaustion of the brain
And medication's there to help us cope.
A daily tablet keeps me nearly sane

When life brings sorrow over and again
The mind lacks even energy to mope,
They say depression's like exhaustion of the brain.

All passion and desire go down the drain
Soon followed by enthusiasm, hope,
A daily tablet keeps me nearly sane.

Give up the struggle. What is there to gain?
Recovery becomes a slippery slope.
They say depression's like exhaustion of the brain.

But medication's there to ease the pain,
Reduce the gradient as back to life we grope:
A daily tablet keeps me nearly sane.

So praise the Prozac in sonnet or quatrain.
It keeps a chap from Paraquat or rope.
They say depression's like exhaustion of the brain:
A daily tablet keeps me nearly sane.

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