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...
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...
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...
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...
Subhuman Schizo Sonnet by Michael Hudson
O my crimes caused much commotion
long after I was punished by the law,
and I waited, hoping a sagacious shrink
would boost in my cliché-ridden mind,
like...
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...
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...
The World We Live In by Alex Klein
Disruptive
Changing the flow
Yell too loud
They’ll alert the popo
Corrective action
For voicing your needs
No body listens
When you’re a mental disease
Get out please stop that
We don’t know...
The Journey (a Poem) by Richard Plowden
That I might sooner get to love forever,
Yes, love and love forever and forever,
Jesus, help me to conquer this disease,
This curse of schizophrenia, wretched...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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.
Suicide by Nicola Clare
An ode to the ‘failed’ attempts
Suicide.
Even the word is evocative
And provocative
Charged with emotion and energy,
Memories
And thoughts of what was and what could have been
Had...
Mad Women by Rebecca Donaldson
Mad women
Sad women
Neglected
And not accepted
Our experiences of child abuse and suicidal ideation can’t possibly be connected
We are said to be “crazy, hysterical, and abnormal,”
And...
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...
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...
Paradoxical Reaction by J Ian
Open up your jaw, In such and such. A serpentine fashion. Blue pill awaits. Your trembling mouth.
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...
Fuck You by T.O. Walker
I won't be The right type Of victim. I won't be the Quiet type Of victim.
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...
When I grow up by Stacey Callard
When I grow up
Every living being will feel safe,
Safe to roam and explore this home we call planet earth
Clean air, education and healthcare will...
Time machine by Hussein Hammoud
One day I got so smart that I built my own time machine. Right away I went back and un-kissed the girl who broke...
Unbeloved by Anonymous
In a bid for peace
Silence was key
I hated the the role
He forced on me
No longer a child
I was deemed as property
A beast that
Needed to...
