My Favorite Bit of Information From The Week:
I am privileged enough to have made it over a year with these E-mails and we are in our second National Poetry Post! In honor of the celebration, I thought I would share three of my favorite poems surrounding mental health. I also find them healing during times of intense grief or uncertainty, and I would imagine we are all feeling tinges of these feelings or perhaps other related emotions during this intense time. If you dig the poems here and want more you can access my first post on poetry here.
1. This poem by Jae Nichelle, is one of my all time favorites for anxiety. It’s lovely if you like to listen to your poetry sometimes like me. Jae is funny bold, and honest about the difficulties of anxiety. There is a huge difference between clinical anxiety and anxiety that is caused by outside circumstances, but I feel this poem touches everyone no matter where they are on the anxiety spectrum.
You can access Jae’s twitter here if you enjoy the poem and want more. https://twitter.com/CropTopAssassin
2. Emily Dickinson on Depression.
It Was Not Death, For I Stood Up by Emily Dickinson
It was not Death, for I stood up,
And all the Dead, lie down-
It was not Night, for all the Bells
Put out their Tongues, for Noon
It was not Frost, for on my Flesh
I felt Siroccos-crawl-
Nor Fire-for just my Marble feet
Could keep a Chancel, cool-
And yet, it tasted, like them all,
The Figures I have seen
Set orderly, for Burial,
Reminded me, of mine-
As if my life were shaven,
And fitted to a frame,
And could not breathe without a key,
And ’twas like Midnight, some –
When everything that ticked-has stopped-
And Space stares-all around-
Or Grisly frosts-first Autumn morns,
Repeal the Beating Ground-
But, most, like Chaos-Stopless-cool-
Without a Chance, or Spar-
Or even a Report of Land-
To justify-Despair.
3. This one hit me especially hard right now because sweaters and masks seem to more woven into our day to day than I am used to.
Update On My Show:
– I had the privilege of being on Somebody Write This (a podcast where they take a randomly-generated plot synopsis and try to turn it into something someone might actually write). We talk about the show a bit and than generate a fantastical plot beginning together. Stories in general are very healing to me right now, as have podcasts and writing. If one or all of those sound good to you this is the podcast! You can listen, use the prompt to write your own story, or both! Hannah Keefer that originated the podcast and is one of my interviewers is a lovely human. We went to school together back in the day, and is someone I very much admire.
– One Woman Hamlet performed at Nasty, Brutish & Short: A Puppet Cabaret via Facebook live! Watch the video under LOOKS.
– Kerfuffle is a company that has been reading aloud to children in isolation via facebook. I will be reading one of my favorite children’s books on April 16th at 10:00 AM CST, but they are doing this all month. Please pass this on to any children or parents you think may be interested.