I’m breaking sequence again but I had this sort revelation of perception recently. I’ve known this is true for sometime but something just sort of clicked during this conversation about the many perceptions of life and how different it can be with versus without mental illness. Anyway, let me know what you think about this poem if you decide to read it.
Good News!
Have you been informed that not everyone
Cries for 4 hours at a time, that it is somewhat atypical
To be paralyzed in the prone position for 13 hours,
To fall asleep, spend another 14 hours fetally, feebly,
And weepily grinding your soul to its core through
Death threats (as suicidal ideation and idealization),
To feel the affirmation of guilt that all you’ve built, loved, and
Been loved by will cry, if you were to die, so you don’t die,
But hope that’s somehow a lie and stay lying down until
You go to work on Monday and smile and laugh,
Love and desire, feel empathy, and aspire, all while
You conspire to hide how desperately depressed you are--
That it’s actually not normal to not accept sympathy because you
Seem a symphony of perfection and production, not self-
Destruction, but a modicum of a man, coworker, boss, friend,
Yet feel a fiend and later scream out your self-esteem until
Your throat is numb, driving and barely deciding not to hear
The call of the void chiding you, confiding in you, dividing you,
Yet you take the exit not the tree at 124 mph knowing that
The same sweat-soaked, yellowed sheet and mattress
Will be the same ones you cry yourself to sleep in
Again, and again, and again, and again, and again, forever--
Did you know that not everyone does that?
Jogging the Mind 