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...
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...
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...
Rub My Feet by Rod McDonald
Your big toe gave you away.
It wiggled and that meant
foot rub please, Dad.
Your eyes were closed,
but I could feel the vibes
all the way from...
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...
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...
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?
Let’s Talk by Howard Kaplan
I'm right there with you
so, let's talk, in a way.
We can start by talking to the air,
since you and I can’t be here or...
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.
Quite Insane by Laurie Corzett
I am quite insane, I speak in rhyme that often doesn't, expecting to find reason. I live in a world of ritual and season.
From Maggie’s Love to IDHS Hell by Marci Webber
Love we shared with exquisite tenderness
With the Dr’s scripts has long since vanished.
They say it wasn’t my responsibility
Not guilty because of acute insanity.
Yet they...
Tragic Comedy by Navratra
Whenever I do something good,
my mother says,
I am just like her,
my father says,
I am just like him
They feel so proud on themselves
and start loving...
Wasted by Darcey Ewing-Segers
The ugly blackbird came back It survived I did not pound it hard enough It has come for me Its talons are sharpened, ready to repay
Considering Harry by Tom Todd
I wrote this poem using selected extracts (pages 212-217) from Prince Harry’s book, ‘Spare’, and reflecting on the extent to which his writings might...
Side Effects Include by Anonymous
One day it all seems a little brighter, shoulders a little lighter, head a little higher. Was it the rain overnight, the smell of...
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...
So Who’s Mad, Then? by Richard Plowden
Mad Maddy,
I greet you again and say hello
On yet another fine day
In England in mid-December!
May our darling Greta
Be spared such summery sun
Up north in...
Broken Down Hallways by Abby Abbott
Battered and bloody
locked up
locked down
in your broken down hallway
“where is the exit?” I ask
“Its in your hand” says the nurse
“the little yellow pill”
“Take it...
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...
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...
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,...
“Seniors” Rant by Don Weitz
A rant dedicated to all “seniors” in geriatric wards and nursing homes
we’re sick we’re stuck we’re fucked
we’re labelled we’re libelled
“demented” “incompetent”
Fifty Shades of Days by Alec Stanza
triggers are slashing my mind
I process the memories of one strange
summer ;
Where was I ? How long did I wander ?
I walked a lot
nowhere...
Look Deeper by Craig Wagner
At times my vision is shallow and short-sighted as I see my loved-one cope with the challenges we label mental illness.
At times through shallow eyes I see a future stunted, my loved-one's possibilities not fully realized.
...But then I look deeper.
...There I see unnecessary expectations created by me, held by me, and fully releasable by
...........me.
The Hopkins Doctor Diagnoses Me by Ann Bracken
The Hopkins psychiatrist glances up at me,
then looks at my chart.
“I remember the first time—and the second—when the depression lifted
I felt like a party girl.”
How long did that last?
“A couple of days…three, maybe.”
That’s a couple of days too long.
You have all the signs of bipolar II.
