Poetry

Some say I am explaining the anti-psychiatry movement to my psychiatrist, but I can only tell you: On the kitchen stove a tea kettle is screaming and no one is...

Forget, for today, for now, Life on the edge of this abyss, Look out across a gentle embrace Of great terrors and petty pleasures. Forget, for today, for...

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...

I kept telling her that Carsten Dahl is not Carson Dyle for the obvious reason the former doodles Danish bebop on the piano with a sort of...

"Dear Mum, Looks like the dizziness I was having and rainbow vision is something worse than "Silent Migraines", I may have to have an operation....

I question am I the only one? With an unkind mosquito mind. My mental health is a sham. As I abhor who I am. My pseudo happiness, pretending...

My nose is too long My hands are too big My feet have grown You see they did My belly is fat My tits are small My legs are lean I...

don’t let the trees bloom green again while I lie drugged and still in bed don’t let the world explode with color while I see only gray...

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,...

When I think about a 24-hour day I know I am going to have ongoing obsessional thoughts coupled with observations that constantly spring forth in my mind all throughout the daylight. It’s like...

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...

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...

Owning just one monkey, if it weighs under 30 lbs., is not illegal in Houston where neighbors saw a little gray face peeking through the front room...

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...

I look into the dark pool I see colors spinning Inklings Of what has yet to become With one prick of my finger The ripples of change Cast outwards Water cannot...

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...

Listen to "F.O.M.H.":   I wrote this poem when I was struggling with my mental health in college on the back of a quiz I didn't...

If destiny had a choice, Sufferings would not be chosen Yet the pain is a consistent Dream that refuses to elope With the night. Strength comes from weakness Blossoming as...

Fogarty's life changed when he discovered Daniel. Daniel had realized he would never be more than a so-so painter, but he discovered he had...

A schizo still causing a commotion long after being corrected by the law, I, a jaded boozer, long unemployed, after waking where madmen drown waiting for a fair...

A psychiatrist and a person are having a conversation: Day 1. Person: “I’m so depressed, because my dog died.” Psychiatrist: “It’s a disorder inside you. I’ll help...

Just yesterday evening they let us know you were gone Joanne the plans they made for you Did not go through The job description just did not...

Sad, mad & feeling so defeated.. From this life long ago I retreated.. I long to come back .. I long to start fresh… A new day maybe?...

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...

And it befell on one mundane Monday morn That trainee Hailey Meersheimer (rank M3) Began her first shift in the psych ward; the pall Was looming in...