Fall 2014: Volume XVI, Issue III
Get a sense of some of the powerful and creative stories that appeared in this summer issue of Open Minds Quarterly.
Face to face: Living with mental illness
Featured in our fall issue is Katherine Page’s recovery story, that touches on her times struggling struggles with depression, eating disorder behaviors, hospitalizations, and self-destructive tendencies, her loss and grief over the years that the diseases took from her, but focuses on her unwavering faith and courage to face another day. Katherine’s deep devotion to face her recovery with courage and strength in discovering and coming to know a new way, will have readers turning Mary Oliver’s poem upon themselves, “What is it you plan to do/with your one wild and precious life?”
My hope is a flame that doesn’t want to go away. It simply won’t go out. It has been a nuisance at times, when every other fiber of my brain has betrayed me, but it has also allowed me to take one more step, to turn away from that well-worn path of depressive thoughts, to start letting the moss and roots grow over it as I walk the other way.
Poetry
In every issue, we publish captivating, touching and telling poetry of the struggles, realities, and survival tales of mental health consumer/survivors. The Fall 2014 issue was no exception. Included in this batch of poetry was a poem by Beth Brown Preston entitled “The Dancer” that speaks to the heaviness that builds up in ones body when pushed and self-pushed to the extent of possibilities, causing a sudden, and involuntary, collapse.
The following in an excerpt from that poem:
The dancer is a sole flower.
Seething with restlessness, he resents
the absence of motion.
Music inspires his angry legs.
To learn more about the poet, Beth Brown Preston, click here.
Included in this edition of Open Minds Quarterly were also two poems by Mark Katrinak, “North of Here” and “Pole Shift”. The following is an excerpt from “North of Here”:
Here, in the mortal aftermath that spreads
simple arithmetic, ashes and tears,
his shadows occupies an emptied room,
confused there is no body there to follow,
shadow so shocked, a dark afraid of dark.
To hear his poetry in the Mark’s own voice, click here.
Perspectives
Patricia, E. Deegan, PhD is a thought leader, innovator and inspirational speaker in the field of mental health recovery. She is also the creator of CommonGround, a web application that helps people prepare to meet with psychiatrists and arrive at the best decisions for treatment and recovery. Her essay “Flyer of the Kite'”, Pat discuses her own experiences with what is called psychosis or psychiatric disorder, and how it was in this time, that she received a spiritual teaching from God, which fundamentally guided her recovery healing prcoess.
Like the kite blasting around on a windy day, my recovery often meant having a difficult time, with lots of ups and downs, pain and suffering, setbacks and bad days. but God taught me there was more to me than these ups and downs. Deep down inside, no matter how rough things got, there was still, quiet place within me that held steadily and that survived.
Pat also considers the importance of mental health professionals remaining open to their patients finding meaning and a personal compass through their spirituality.
More information about Pat Deegan and CommonGround can be found on her website here.
Honorable mentions of the 12th Annual BrainStorm Poetry Contest
In the Spring 2014 issue, we announced and published the first-, second- and third-place winners of our annual poetry contest for mental health consumers and survivors. Here, we recognize the Honorable Mentions. The 13th BrainStorm poetry Contest will open fro entries on January 2. Up-to-date information will be posted our Poetry Contest page.
- “Medicated” by Sandy Jeffs
- “As She Gently Brushed My Long Hair” by Sandy Jeffs
- “an echo” by Sophie Soil
- “With a huge love shattering my heart” by Georgina Paul
Meet Our Contributors
Connect a little more with the writers in each issue through the About the Authors page. Below, meet some of the authors whose work appeared in the Fall 2014 issue. To learn more about them, and others, click on the “about the authors” image at the top of this page.
Cover Artist
Cynthia, a member of NISA and the Artists’ Loft, creates one-of-a-kind representations of horses, owls, baskets, and more using only recylced materials that she finds in the woods, on farms, beaches and such. Examples of the materials she works with are barn wood, twine, barbwire, feathers, fungus, wild grasses or flowers, pieces of driftwood, bark and more.