‘Skinny Girls Bleed Flowers’ is a slam poem by Savannah Brown documenting her experience with anorexia and bulimia. Brown personifies the eating disorders as monsters…
The poem ‘Requiem’ by Anna Akhmatova documents the trauma and suffering of the Russian people under Joseph Stalin. The poem was conceived as she waited…
Dan Roman uses a powerful metaphor of an ever-present roommate to describe his painful experience with depression. His recitation of this poem is a moving…
When a father loses a child, his grief can sometimes be eclipsed by that of the mother’s. This poem by Eileen Knight Hagemeister describes how…
Andrea Gibson is a spoken word artist and activist who writes with intense passion about mental illness, bullying, and social tragedy. In her award-winning poem,…
Barb Brown depicts the subjective experience of anxiety in her poem titled ‘Anxiety Comes’, lyrically describing the suddenness and fear. Anxiety Comes it comes like…
“Hope” is a famous poem written by Emily Dickinson. In this piece, Dickinson personifies hope as a bird, full of endurance and bravery, defeating despair…
‘Richard Cory’, a poem written by Edwin Arlington Robinson, describes the life of a man who seemingly has it all…but commits suicide. The poem serves…
‘Spilled Ink’, a poem by Shiane Salabie, explains her personal struggle of dealing with everyday challenges. In the powerful lines, Salabie speaks to the idea…
‘Listen’ is a poem by Kaitlin Akow, presented at the Vancouver Poetry Slam. The poem discusses the issue of anxiety and the struggle to be…
“Out of the Darkness” is one of the many written pieces featured in a book called FASCInATE – Friends of Alma St Centre Inspiring Action…
“One of My Turns” by Pink Floyd is an eerie song describing the instant an individual goes from being stable to having a psychotic breakdown….
‘Trellis’ documents the agony and trauma of young girl reacting to her friend’s sexual assault. The poet, Andrew Gibson uses vivid imagery and rhetoric to…
Andrea Gibson is an award-winning poet and activist, whose poetry focuses on gender norms, social reform, and mental health challenges faced by individuals in the…
‘Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone’, by W.H. Auden, appears to be a poem written from the perspective of someone mourning the loss of…
‘Mirror’, a poem by Sylvia Plath, depicts a woman’s struggle with aging. Plath suffered from mental health problems for most of her adult life; she…
“Invictus” is a short Victorian poem written by William Ernest Henley and published in 1888. He wrote this piece during a lengthy hospital stay for…
In this TedTalk from August, 2013, Rachel McKibbens explains how sharing written words aloud in a safe and encouraging environment is a therapeutic means to…
“Ana’s Song (Open Fire)” by Silver Chair describes the personal struggle of the lead singer Daniel Johns’ experience with Anorexia Nervosa. The lyrics depict the…
Patrick Howse, a former BBC bureau chief who completed a seven-year tour of duty in and around Baghdad, has written extensively about his experience in…
