May. It’s only five days away. This is a poem, but I didn’t plan it that way.
Buuuuuut – it kind of works? Here’s what I want to do with May 2019, since it’s Mental Health Awareness Month. Many years ago I was told I had anxiety and depression, which is just how the egg of life cracks sometimes, and it’s been a battle that I’ve spent most of my life waging. As a result of that experience, I’ve made much of my work about mental health and emotional strife. As I was sitting down having some cereal recently, I asked what sort of project could I take on to challenge myself to write more poetry in the aftermath of Escapril (a challenge for National Poetry Writing Month). It hit me that Mental Health Awareness Month was coming and that there’s still not enough being done about making mental health care available to those in need of it and that the stigma around mental health is still prominent in most societies.
Then was borne my idea – a month of poetry dedicated to spotlighting mental health disorders and the language associated with them. Poetry is a very cathartic form of writing that abides by many and no rules simultaneously. We, the writers, get to define what our poetry looks like, claiming the art of ‘free verse’ in our efforts. I can think no better pairing, either, since mental illness has no set of regulations that it is held accountable to abiding. The two go well together, I think – or at least they always have for me.
So here’s what I’m thinking, what I’m hoping for even, and I hope you’d be willing to join me in this adventure. Firstly, share this post, share the image anywhere (with credit, of course), and spread the word about this empowering opportunity. Secondly, consider participating yourself. Write one poem, or all thirty-one, or ten, or five, whatever works for YOU! Mental Health Awareness is knowing how much or how little you’re able to handle doing at this moment in your life. And lastly, talk about mental health, both good and bad, and continue making this a normal conversation in our daily lives.
If you participate, the best place to share your work with me is going to be through my Facebook Page – but you can share your poetry through Twitter and Tumblr as well. I know that ever social media platform is for everyone, so I want you to feel comfortable sharing what you write about your experiences and your knowledge about mental health matters.
I do have a Patreon if you’re interested in supporting me financially in all of my writing endeavors on this blog (for 2019 my primary focus is on my Dinners with Caroline project about grief and loss – check out the first chapter here), I would like you to consider making donations to an organization that helps those in need of mental health services.
Let’s make this a thing? That would be neat (powerful – I hope).
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