I Resembled Mad-Eye Moody & Occlumency Poem by Margaret Alice

And I ate it - they gave us sweets at the venue -
nearly passed out at work, pain in the head; remember
the lesson: NO sweets during the meeting; no eating
sweetmeats at the conference; the menu is thoroughly
disgusting in any case: The main dish is maize – yuck!
can’t touch the stuff; I MUST stay awake during speeches;
but how on earth to do that when the blood sugar drops…

Losing tonight, today at the meeting I resembled Mad-Eye
Moody*, trying to stay awake, my left eye spinning around
just like his did; all looking so self-satisfied while I
was fuming inside: Why do I have to count my losses all
the time, make bargains in all departments – wholegrain
gives sinus, fatty food causes migraine, not eating
at all leads to drowsiness

Eating fruit makes me fall asleep – damn, it is no easy
task to work out how to stay upright when every kind
of food has a side effect – and I can’t let on that
I’m having a difficult time, for fear of losing the
chance to enjoy the marvellous fun of being on the
committee – I’m suffering from repressed depression,
smiling broadly while dying inside…

* A wizard in the Harry Potter series

I Need to Learn the Art of Occlumency*

My thoughts are always running here
and there, spinning out of control, going
everywhere; I wonder whether the Times
Literary Supplement had it right when
claiming that Hamlet’s problems were
due to his suffering from halitosis and
that all signs pointed to bad breath as
the cause of his many delusions; I wonder
whether it is true that Karl Marx wanted
to write about sex while Freud really
wanted to write about economics; I wonder
whether the little girls who claimed to
photograph the Cottingly Fairies only
repudiated their claim to get outraged
people off their back – I need to learn
the art of Occlumency* to close my mind
to the books I’m reading making me go
all unfocused; unable to concentrate
on doing my duty….

* J.K. Rowlings: Close mind to invasion by another mind