What if We All Became Preachers? by Laurenne Kredentser
What if we all became preachers?
Us madfolk
Who’ve been locked up, lobotomized, and drugged into a living death
Who’ve been tied to trees and left to...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
Bedridden by Joey Marino
I can remember certain feelings, but I can’t feel very well.
I can’t hold someone’s hand because my hands over grip. They squeeze very hard....
The Day I Became Schizophrenic
Schizophrenia, to me, is nothing more than a word. All it really means is that you experience psychosis on a regular enough basis that it’s a factor in your life. And that you actually do, as the word “schizophrenia” indicates, have a mind that you share with some sort of outside presence.
TRUE STORY by Jasmine Marshall
i went to the gym the other day and got hit on by a man over twice my age he asked me about my...
A Middle Finger to Oppression and DBT by Rebecca Donaldson
She (my psychologist) didn’t like me, and I don’t know why
I guess it’s not okay to wish to die
I was told by society I...
The Light Prevailed by Diana Spore
The primary wall stood strong and tall, until she started to chisel her way through
She had been told that she would never recover --
From...
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...
Virginal Autonomy by Nidhi Agrawal
After Sylvia Plath ~
“I have given my name and my day-clothes up to the nurses
And my history to the anaesthetist and my body...
To Live and (Almost) Die in L.A.: A Survivor’s Tale
After 25 years of chronic emergency, 22 mental hospitalizations, a stint at a “community mental health center,” 13 years in a "board & care," repeated withdrawals from addictions to legal drugs, and a 12-year marriage, I plan to live every last breath out as a survivor, an advocate, and an artist.
Lady Yellow, Lady Blue by Brighid Aime
2am is a bipolar blessing.
On the one hand,
Her clock ticks, waking worlds away.
On the other…
Dreams tattoo pulses of heart,
Maneuvered by her beaten, brush stroking...
On the Birth of Pandemonium by David Penner
One, two, three walls three, omniscient was the
Fourth in darkness - unvanquished the barren
Causeway. Armies of howling seraphim, cascading
On a lake of fire; Mulciber...
Breaking News by JayJay Conrad
Do you remember the first time you were told you were Broken, by a man with a clipboard and argyle tie?
When the Lunatics Arise by Bonnie Schell
“It is the very error of the moon. She comes more near the earth than she was wont. And makes men mad.” - Shakespeare,...
The Great Experiment by Barbara Summers
"Dear Mum,
Looks like the dizziness I was having and rainbow vision is something worse than "Silent Migraines", I may have to have an operation....
Are You Ok? by Alex K.
Are you taking your meds?
Are you right in the head?
Are you doing ok?
Am I behind on pills today?
You seem manic
More like you can’t stand...
It is January 20th by Jessica Lowell Mason
The doctor is calling.
She says to you,
without saying,
tell me what I want
to hear,
verify the hastiness
of all my generalizations,
the quick imprecise
diagnoses
and the bias-based
confirmations,
Proofs by Dana Henry Martin
Because tree stumps have replaced office chairs.
Because a city of wind has replaced commercial
business parks. Because infinity has been revealed
as a tidy line of...
A Love Poem for the Girls with ‘Borderline’ by Rebecca Donaldson
I want to write a love poem for the girls who have been branded with, “Borderline.”
I want to write a love poem for the...
