You didn’t understand
they were talking about you
when they spoke of
mental illness
drugs
psychosis
treatment
hope.
But the lies you live
cover your ears
and deafen you.
You are so
accustomed to ignoring
truth and danger,
you do not see it
before your eyes.
The presenters sing
and tell their stories.
Your fingers are in your ears,
“La la la la la
I can’t hear you”
as you stomp with
vacuous determination
toward
the pit.
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Very powerful, friend. BOOM! Love this.
Thank you, Lorien.
What a well written heart breaking too often too true poem!
Thanks, Kevin.
True and sad. If they don’t accept their condition and don’t seek help, they sooner or later end up in the pit.
It’s that horrible family cycle, where ‘normal’ is something awful, and there is no conception of a different kind of life. The brainwashing says anyone with information contrary to their warped normal is lying and must be opposed. It’s so depressing.
“But it SEEMED normal”. Sure.
‘Normal’ is one of those relative things. If you grow up in a house where your folks stagger down the hall drunk every night, dad pounds mom every weekend, and every disagreement involves screaming, how would you know that other people don’t live like that?
If your mentally ill mom self-medicates with weed every night, and introduces you to her calming method of choice when you’re 12, telling you all those medical studies are lies, and it hasn’t done anything to her, are you going to accept her reality? Do you have the analytical abilities to evaluate the studies for yourself? How can you evaluate what ‘would have been’ if she had made other choices?
Add poverty and lack of education into that mix.
It can be quite depressing.
Perfect description of a ticking time bomb. Have seen this sad scenario played out within my own family. Best to face problems head on and seek help. Powerful poem.
Though easier said than done in most cases…