Medicine

Medicine is a collection of free verse poems addressing mental illness, specifically mood disorders such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. In a world where mental illnesses are prevalent, especially in college students, my collection discusses and breaks down the historic stigma that overshadows it. These poems emphasize words, messages and details that cannot be restricted by format and structural limitations. This collection was influenced by well-renowned voices such as Eileen Myles, James Schuyler, and Robert Lowell, as well as contemporary poets Sabrina Benaim, Blythe Baird, and R.M. Drake. My motivation for this collection was to break through censored ways of talking about mental illnesses and create a platform for experiences and normalities that have not been accurately represented in literature in the past.