A Silence In Social Work

today we spoke of desperation and how it stood
beside mental illness as though they were brothers
or sisters and how labels are derived and pinned
to the collars of those who speak too urgently
of their desires, and how if their needs, the all
important necessities could be balanced, their minds
might do the same

once I cured a dog of barking by feeding him
these things happen with regularity -
the hail and hearty deciphering the weak, the poor-
the hungry riding piggyback with shrill voices
because despair is the closest one may come to insanity
hope is hardest when the door is locked from the inside
windows painted over and over with the same color
will hold shut like glue and sweat blurs till fresh breezes
are no longer remembered

today I might have said more, but you are young
idealism and understanding prime your eyes with the
first coat of optimism reaching a high shine
and what can one know of time that has used so little yet
how is defeat explained without the visual aids
and years of understanding a thousand plans that failed

 

today we spoke of insanity being more desperation
than illness
later I watched the evening bathe a mountain in stillness.

Reviews

[Chris]

Assumptions fed by an audience that wasn't present fueled by amusings and wondering of those that were... Personal understandings filled the between-the-line emptinesses and your thought remained near.

I wish I had shared the table... my nuances are my own and they so could've been - shared.

Take care,
Chris

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

This is amazing! The words was full of wisdom. The imagery and flow excellent!

[Desert Dreamer]

These are wise words. You speak truth.

[Angela H.]

This moves me so much...and I want to give it time to percolate. In my first pass I heard the message of social prejudice against mental illness...I even misread the line "because despair is the closest one may come to insanity" as "because despair is the closest one may come to sanity," and felt the resonance of that from the point of view of the mentally ill.

In my second pass, I heard the completely different story of despair leading to what might be deemed mental illness....and how closely they are related. I thought of a quote I recently read and took to heart (as I have a family member struggling with a form of mental illness)....which said:

“The most terrifying and destructive feeling that a person can experience is psychological isolation. This is not the same as being alone. It is a feeling that one is locked out of the possibility of human connection and of being powerless to change the situation.” Jean Baker Miller, Toward a New Psychology of Women.

I may be missing the point again, but I will say your writing moved me, and its run-on style, with minimal punctuation, and understated, unpretentious language, made me pay attention.

I particularly appreciated the relief of the last line.

[KrisK]

So known, so lived by many, and so misunderstood by the world...unless you sit in it some time (or have) little truth can be known...and you expressed that so appropriately here...

[arbitrary jane]

despair is the closest one may come to insanity
hope is hardest when the door is locked from the inside

so so very true. such a softly written piece of truth.
and the last line... rings of haiku beauty and infinite stillness.

[Crowley]

This writing speaks to me in ways I cannot explain. In one short piece you said so much and with such precise measure. It was like you were skeet shooting out there. "Pull!" From the first line of astute observation to the last line of in your face truth, this rings with the not so subtle truths that plague the human existence...and I mean everyone to one degree or another. Great writing...sharp thought process.

[Omar Fendri]

this is emotive and undoubtedly goes beyond telling story and creating a poem. It shows us a reality so we stand for awhile and face it.
I adore the lines from 10 to 16 and I enjoyably reread them several times.
Also I cherish the expression 'coat of optimism'
Creatively written

[Emily B]

the flow is wonderful, I like the way it ended with the mountain

[Ken Simm.]

A real coversation with almost oneself. Superb writing full of wisdom.