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...
See Your Ancestors Smile by J.H.
As we lie together
Worlds apart
Seek shelter
With me.
Weave your
Stolen freedom
Into a new dream;
Between skipped
Heartbeats,
Show me
A world burning
Only with
Your fire.
My sweet sublimity,
Take hold of this
Outstretched hand...
And You by Douglas Westberg
And You
a glosa
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into...
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...
Khepri by Michael Hudson
O give me in a shrink the god who rolled Ra
across the heavenly sky each day from dawn,
making everything seem so fresh and young
beneath...
Moonlight Mystery by Jason Aull
Lively do the shadows play
Within the darkened lonely way
Few dare tread along the deep
Where hatreds children play with sleep
Rage and laughter fill the day
As...
The Parasite Within by Rhiannon Chianese
I claw and climb into your head,
Controlling your thoughts until I am fed.
With a drink or a drug, I will be seized.
With a drink...
King of the Hill by Virgo Phoenix
This gnawing burning squiggle of an emotion that streams through insipidness; speaks in the space where my gut meets the churning locket of despair.
Alone,...
(Not) Special by Erin Harer
Even in my darkest lost places
It felt worth it
To be special.
Even on the days I knew
That my choices had become expensive
Even then
It felt worth...
incantation (Gleaning the Truth/Torching the Rest) by Jacquese Armstrong
trees
stark and barren used to upset me
i knew how they felt standing naked
before a mocking world waiting for a season
to cover the indiscretions of...
metamorphosis by Lazlo Taboli
development is hardly accurate for what has happened to me
no, it's more of a transformation
and there is still something in me that needs to...
Silent Conflict by Cyndi
You never wanted to be the girl who cried wolf. How selfish it is to tell someone about the beast you hold inside when...
The degree of love: Six semesters and the Convocation Day by Navratra
What if couples celebrate pose day instead of rose day? Teaching each other how to stand in
front of the camera could be the best...
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...
October 1st, 2020 by Hannah E
Today I am 27.
I spent many years of my life in a very dark place. I spent many years suffering without truly understanding why....
Neuroleptic Skeptic by Jeffrey Powell
It’s just a little pill
that they say will fix your nerves;
An antipsychotic
- which will normalize your aim.
“We need you to fit in
and we need...
Darling Girl by Hannah E
Darling girl,
I wish for you to understand that
The fire in your soul, the kind of love in your heart and the curiosity that drives...
An Ode Against “Recovery” by Rebecca Donaldson
An Ode Against “Recovery”: Flourishing After Childhood Trauma by Rebecca Donaldson
I remember when a therapist of mine once told me I could “recover.”
The...
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.
Algorithm Poem #1 by Steven T. Licardi
There’s got to be an algorithm
to determine
the precise number of physicians
you need to visit
before you become little more
than a heap of diagnoses
imprisoned
in manilla envelopes
stacked
to...
Dearest Doctor by Brighid Aime
Dearest Doctor #2, don't dollop me in shame (or throw me a death sentence for that matter).
Don't tell me I need to be happy...
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....
Satan’s Shadow by Adam Slosberg
It is a beautiful day. The Sun is out; not a cloud in the sky. Yet I am in the Depths of Darkness where...
Poetry by Kris
All is the self
The world where it is felt
What’s around what’s within
Simple the mind of which integrates
let be without
To listen when it is loud
Less...
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...
