By Candice Leigh | Featured Contributor
Come in from the outside
follow the sound of my voice
let my words caress you
let my voice be your guide
you are safe here
Quietly in the corner the piano starts to play
with each stroke your shoulders ease
the weight of the world is no more
fall into me and I will catch you
you are safe here
By Chris Otcasek (aka Mr. Ohh!) | Featured Contributor
Hello! I have a question for you all. I would like to ask how you grew up? How were you treated? When I grew up, I had asthma, and was not treated well. The thing is…no one was in those times. I would run the 100-meter dash and run out of breath after 25. It wasn’t so bad that the other children told me I ran like a truck, but when the coach did as well it made me feel I wasn’t trying hard enough. Well, I tried harder and got worse.
Some folks find this abuse depressing and are scarred. I grew to fight harder, and when I was laughed at, I learned to laugh at myself as well. It was a sad existence. Bullying is cruel but it must be survived. Friedrich Nietzsche said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” It’s a lie that which does not kill us gives us one more thing to avoid. For me, that became everything. And it continued throughout my working life.
Continue reading “Why I Choose To Laugh Daily: Chris’ Journey”
By Brandon Koebernik | Featured Contributor
Welcome back, demon,
I’ve been expecting you.
Now, what is your reason,
For the things I’m going through?
You should hold no power here,
Yet you manage to find a way.
I wish you’d just disappear,
But you reside in my brain.
Continue reading “Welcome Back, Demon [a poem on mental illness]”
By Cara Amy Goldthorpe | Featured Contributor
It would take for my heart
To be ripped apart
Scattered to the corners
Of this paradise haven
For me to come home
To the soul above
And within
To speak my truth
And embrace
This identity of mine
Too long hidden
For so long, swirling
In the shadowy clutch
Of the night’s storm
Yet now I see, I behold
The awakening rose
That is blossoming
In this Dawn
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