Bipolar

[addy]

Great work here, with a fascinating subject matter that you expertly handled. I've heard accounts of bipolarism and it's not pretty, yet you didn't allow the subject to consume the poem with predictable metaphors for literal interpretations of the affliction; instead you took it to broader, more sensitive places. There's really not much I can comment on in terms of revision.

The demented bray of a stung hyena.
Laughing at nothing, at a wall,
at a chair, I found this really poignant

moving through the alleyways
of stacked bookshelves, like a ghost
in a bad Gothic tome, Not sure "bad" is needed? It adds a layer of irony/sarcasm that pulls me out of it a little

hissing and steaming like second "like" simile in a row... is this intentional? a kettle with mirth,
rising from mills of sorrow,
a poppy on a battlefield. This image was nicley arresting as well

Return then to the house of mourning,
an exchange of masks, the hurried actor
in a one man epic, playing both peasent and prince. Like this. Very interesting interpretation

Then as the brain wobbles and shatters like glass Not sure the brain thing worked for me, only because I thought of a literal brain LOL ... so the picture of it wobbling like jelly then shattering was a little jarring
the encore goes on,
until all the players are dead.

Nicely done!