A Hand on the Shoulder (a poem for Lindsay Clancy) by Ann Bracken
It didn’t have to be this way—
She begged for help,
took the drugs,
admitted herself to a psych hospital,
worked with a psychiatrist.
Her doctor treated her over...
Marvel by Miro Sulkumäki
To see the darkness,
to hear the silence,
to taste the water,
to smell the air,
and to touch the wind
Just some of the daily miracles
https://yesmadjourney.net/poems.html
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Return to Poetry...
Defiant Compliance by Jeffrey Powell
My mind is shattered from this new therapy
My raging backlash is like lightning discharging
What hasn’t happened: getting my old self back
What really matters is...
An English Case Study in Non-Compliance by Luna
You need to trust us -
Said the physicians,
We have your
best interests
at heart.
Patient responds
irrationally and incoherently:
You believe
you act ethically -
and so you reason
you do.
Mais excuse...
The Voice by Nicola Clare
I heard a story of a woman who was pinned face down on the floor By a gang of six or more as others looked on
Sister-Dove by Leonore Wilson
And with leather straps they cinched me to the gurney, hefted me into the mouth of the ambulance, and I lay there in my paper gown watching the slow traffic--
The Four Horsemen of the Medical Industrial Complex by David Penner
First came night, and then black rage upon the
Gloaming. And from the silence of the harrowing
Gates came Rape, riding a tubercular mare,...
Severe Complex PTSD by Melody K.
3 minutes.
He looks at me—
No friendship in his eyes
How could there be?
He is clinician
I am case.
For 10 more minutes
I talk to him about—
What? I...
Madness by Peter Hobden
They say that madness of the mind
Is just a sickness hurting kind
But what if madness is the balm
That heals the hurts and saves from...
Rain by Nikhil Bajaj
The rain is falling down
collecting on my brain
If only running water
could take way the pain
My car is fogging up
with every shortened breath
Who knew I’d...
One Little Pill For One Little Ill! by ArrA
One little pill, for one little ill. Could never be believed how fast it can kill.
Sanctuary by Jonathan Scott
Screams from the soul of a tortured one
Sleep lost for all, don’t stay, RUN
Locked room with no corners, no edges
The walls just circular, padded...
Shadow and Light by Dana Henry Martin
I remember how you tried to enter another dimension
through the linen closet, how you pulled the blankets
and pillows off their shelves and left them...
This Impossible Fantasy by Nicholas Cook
It’s a sunny Tuesday, and from the outside my life seems
normal.
But life has gotten busy, and I am having difficulty responding to the stress.
The...
Beauty Remains by Diana Spore
The back door to her mind swung open and cracked down the middle, bursting into flames.
A blazing inferno swept through, charring fragile and ragged...
Subhuman Schizo Sonnet by Michael Hudson
To V. C. of Melbourne Magistrates’ Court
O I must forget every sickening slight
they sent, secretively, knowing I'd twig,
and their joy, as...
Quiet Storms by Tina Antonis
This year, I learned to name the hurricane—
Borderline, they call it.
A diagnosis sharp as a scalpel
cutting through the fog of what’s wrong with me?
For...
An Atheist’s Prayer by Morgan Stewart
Psychiatry is an atheist’s prayer, absolving the faithful of human desire
It is miracle cures, sinners who have lost their way, and a holy book...
A Journey Through a Restaurant by Lea Harrington
Walking through this restaurant
to the restroom -
always in the back,
of course
A gauntlet
one must walk
to go
where one needs to go
People look at me,
stare,
laugh at me.
What...
We’re Not Settling by Jeffrey Powell
when they’re arresting, stifling, tranquilizing
not standing for our backfire
what’s really wrong - can they answer that
why can’t they promise not to mire
At first we...
Head on a Stick by Jennifer Chapman
I feel a push and pull inside of me,
Deep in the pit of my soul.
Roots stretch to the ends of my stomach,
Tangled with bones—
A...
You Are A World by Tara Rae Behr
You are a world.
You are not a sign,
a category, a personality,
a label, a diagnosis, a spectacle,
a thing to be analyzed, or figured out.
Others who...
Shame by Destiny Woodward
There is a vastness of sorrow and emptiness within me that I can’t describe. The sting of shame, the flames of regret consume me....
Psychiatry Gave Me PTSD by Nicola Clare
Psychiatry gave me PTSD.
Psychiatry gave me PTSD
A silhouette now
Or a hologram
Wedged between sheets of sound
Proof, somehow
Shatter proof glass
Stuck
For an eternity; cast,
A mad ranting lunatic!
Labels...
I Needed a Guide by Mad Preschool Teacher
Still feels like yesterday
16 alone with this unrecognized gift
I can touch God
I can feel everything
Way too much pain though too much beauty
I needed a...
