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.
Statistics for the Social Sciences by Miriam Barr
I had this idea I could join the system
and change it from the inside
but you can’t join the system
and not join the system
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...
Madness, Beauty, Love by Laurenne Kredentser
There’s a beauty in madness
That most will never understand
A love that opens up your heart
To those you never met, never knew, never saw before.
And...
My Veterans Benefits Were Denied Because My Military Job “Did Not Exist” And The...
“Section 23a of your Form DD-214 lists your military occupational specialty as ‘EXP,’ the letter from the VA said. “That occupation does not exist....
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...
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...
Self-Care For Dummies by Jill M. Talbot
Seek comfort where you can, even if it's in a dumpster
Have someone explain it to you like you're a toddler
Read more on ways you...
Poem for Pearl by Mother of Pearl
Dear Pearl
My beautiful blessed girl.
Your pain is my pain.
You will never know how much,
I love and adore you,
Until you have a daughter of...
Hearts Are Meant to be Fed Love, Not latrogenic Harm by Rebecca Donaldson
I wish you had tried to understand what had happened to me, but in the end, you lacked empathy.
I tried to convey to you...
Subhuman Schizo Sonnet by M.J. Hudson
O feeling like a nigger denied the vote,
the brain behind my radical commotion
being coercively treated by the state,
I, torn out to where some schizos...
The Autistic Person Speaks Out by Richard Plowden
I really find it such a stigma
That men to me are an enigma,
(That, greatly to my consternation,
I just cannot make conversation.)
Yes, though I call...
Black Dog by Tel S.
I keep seeing a black dog next to me.
Will this chase me all my life?
The dog, the needles, the pills, the razors, the knives?
The...
A bipolar perspectivist poem by Andrea Grey
one day we may all come to see
that the way I treat you, I treat me it’s disguised from our eyes
and operates energetically
we don’t...
tents in the park by Dan Lenart
tents in the park
In the city without a soul
When misfits and outcasts were kicked out,
Banished to exile, even the ancients historically
Understood this sentence, this...
FOR OVER 27 YEARS NOW by Adam Slosberg
And so, a new morning begins. The same way. Every day. For over 27 years now.
Fear. Fear the police will break down my door....
Untitled by Anthony Diliberti
I’ll sit here in this desperate chair thinking tainted thoughts. I’ll cultivate anger and contempt for all that has been lost. My mind is...
Bazooka Joe at the Shoe Store by Zak Mucha
Walking past a construction site and through
the creosote cloud of a childhood
shoe store, a kid embarrassed by the clerk’s
gift of a hard square of...
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...
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...
Insulin Shock Therapy by Dana Henry Martin
I hear the music again. It’s my mother
singing through the clay earth
from her grave the way she sang
from her bed at the asylum
until they...
Benzo Request by Rod McDonald
My daughter asked:
"Can I have a Clonazapam, dad?"
"You bet."
Why argue with a stage 4 sarcoma?
It could take a week to become dependant.
Why worry?
Waiting for...
Untitled by Louise
I can't cope with living anymore
Leaving for good should be a choice
Should be empty of moral guilt
I'll never get over my Mom's passing
I'll never...
She Flies With a Broken Wing by Robin Edwards
She flies with a broken wing
looking for a branch to rest on
Somewhere safe to lay her head
waiting for the warmth of dawn,
She knows the branch that welcomes her
even in the dark
She’s nestled there many times
to rest her weary heart,
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...
