Chapter 2

Since the last chapter, we both have grown. You as the reader and me as the writer. I have continued my pursuit of writing verse and have caught myself in the snares of terribly written books. Inspiring to be an above average poet and a run-of-the-mill, forgettable writer. But I digress.

Today I would like to talk about the art, nay, the craft, nay the mastery of writing for mental health. Writing has been my prescribed addiction since I have been and (even before I was) diagnosed with a “mental illness”.

First rule of defeating your mental illness is acknowledgement and moving on. Yes, I have a mental illness, and it makes me see the world different then you. And I move on. Like Ross from” Friends” would say, “PIVOT! PIVOT!” And around each corner bringing up that mental health cushion, pivot the description. Boom, that’s your first lesson.

Because of all that crap that rattles around in our brains, the thoughts, the synapses sparking when you walk down the street, enter a grocery store, go to the post office. All the feels you get when you listen to good music. Yup, that’s all the workings of the machine upstairs. That being the BRAIN.

Now I know jack about the brain, other than how I feel, and which lobe is which. I know the frontal and the occipital and I will not pretend to shower you with scientific text about something I don’t know about. But what do I know about?

Surviving. Being labeled. Being Institutionalized. Side Effects. The act of trying to get off my Psyche meds. The art of the fragment sentence. The lovely run on. And in this book together we are going to save many lives.

This may not be the greatest book you ever read. Most likely it won’t be. But throughout this journey we are taking together. I will show you through poetry, and verse, that you can get through this. So sit back in your most comfortable chair, throw a reading playlist on, and lets begin.

 

Jason Wright is the editor and founder of Oddball Magazine. His column appears weekly.