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...
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...
Letting Go by Ashleigh
Let go, Of all that shit, That is holding you back. Let go of fear, Let go of uncertainty, Let go of anger, Let the unpredictable be just that, Unpredictable. Let go of your need for control of things you cannot control, Hold on to your truths.
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....
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...
Passing by Fred Pelka
"You don’t want to check this box like that."
The kid doesn’t have to look down to know which box the man means.
Standing before the...
My Mood as Room by Calvin May
I suffocate in the heat of my pitch black room.
I cannot find the door.
And cut my feet on the broken glass strewn
All over the...
self-portrait as frankenstein’s monster by Jasmine Marshall
self-portrait as frankenstein’s monster
we are mortal beings.
you can’t destigmatize a condition constructed on a foundation of bigotry.
environmental stimulus incites evolutionary response: emotion, nature’s behavior-motivation...
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...
Thank You for the Somatoform Disorder Diagnosis (or Psychiatry Needs Therapy) by Anonymous
The psychiatrist sits across the room
While asking me questions about how the
Medication is going
Seldom looking over at me
As she types my responses at her...
A Poem for Lovers of the DSM by Rebecca Donaldson
And what is healing?
Chiseling.
Chipping.
Picking.
Smearing and rubbing off the grime.
The gunk.
The graffiti I no longer wish to wear.
To hear.
To feel in my left foot.
Raised shoulder.
Waist...
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...
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...
The centipede (peace on Earth) by Jeremy Nathan Marks
In a basement classroom paid for
by the leftovers from a public budget
an instructor teaches refugees English
she says her first tongue is pidgin
and laughs like...
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...
Blossom by Ashleigh
To be beautiful.
What is that?
What does that mean?
Size two, toned, tan, and ready and waiting
Ready for what?
Waiting for who?
The prince charming promised in all...
Forgiven, a sonnet by Dan Johnson
Forgiven, a sonnet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know how to write down my request
or where it has to go to find my boy.
I hope while drifting up...
Suicide is a Poem by Jay E. Valusek
Suicide is a poem,
I say, and pause.
They do not look convinced.
A tragedy, perhaps, reply their faces.
No rhyme or reason. No heroic meter.
A travesty, at...
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 Killing of Susan Kelly by Dorothy Dundas
The dark-suited man slithered,
Shock box in hand,
To our bedsides, four girls, innocent, naked,
Waiting….waiting….waiting,
Sticky-headed,
One by one.
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,...
25 Years of Consciousness, and They Still Haven’t Cured My Suffering by Sarah Myers
After I went to the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness conference this weekend, I sat down with all the consciousness researchers to...
The labels… by Clare-Star Knighton
I’m peeling off the labels, The adjustment disorders, the bipolar disorder,
I’m peeling off the labels, the borderline - the avoidant - the emotionally unstable personality disorders.
I’m peeling off the labels, to find ME, MEEEE that’s hidden.under.all.these.labels!
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.
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...
