The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 11:02am
EYE have to sell
M(EYE) Mental Health
to M(EYE) New Psychiatrist:
nails done
HYDE INQUIRY pant suit
file folder of photos
showing sculpted heads
Certificate of Congratulations
from Concept 2 Rowing
New Painting started on basement floor
EYE have to sell
M(EYE) Self
The Hawk Dining Room 6:49pm
Like the flocks of tiny birds
We watched this morning —
there has to be
a Collective Shift —
a Collective Curve
& Undulation
of Our Global —
No — Universal
Perception
There is no such “thing” as “mental illness.” There is no true illness which can be said to be entirely “mental” unless it is derived from an organic source such as a brain tumour. There are no physical attributes in the human body which can point to this description. There is no pre-determining test for “mental illness.” The psychiatric diagnosis used to determine the supposed state of “mental illness” is opinion-based at best, and most often this opinion is not shared by the individual in question. At worst this opinion is often shared by family members, friends, and society as a whole, creating a kind of trap or “Catch 22” for the individual.
–
What we see when we attempt to use this stigmatizing and false description of “mental illness” is an array of human self expression which may be affected by, or resulting from, changes in environment, sleep patterns, physical activity, thought, perception, interaction with others, or any conglomeration of naturally occurring factors which can and do affect all of us as human beings.
–
We are variable and complex. To lump any of us into “categories” of “mental illness” is a grave disservice to humanity.
Written by Joanna Gilman Hyde Blair
The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:45pm
Long ago & far away
I was housed in a place
I did not want to be
I did not want to be
& so I was stationed
in an artificial unit
of nurses, doctors & cafeteria food
for weeks at a time
yet I have no memory of what day
or year, I got out
it doesn’t really matter
that I cannot recall
the end of that terrible time —
all that matters now
is that I am happy
& I DO want to live —
My Life is full
in This Glorious Place
The Hawk West Desk Window 9:26pm
Something weird just happened to Me
when I was handing My Husband
2 Tylenol for His Sore Back
— and then handing Him
The Glass Of Water
to drink Them down —
I had a flash
of reliving the constant nights
of being fed medication
in The Yarmouth Psychiatric Unit
where The Nurse handed Me first
a little plastic cup of pills
which I threw into My Mouth —
I stood holding The Empty Cup
The Nurse filled It with an inch of water
from an ice cold stainless steel pitcher
for Me to swallow down
The Hawk Portico 2:22pm
Yes, It was MY Depression —
It wasn’t anybody else’s
yet It affected so many —
like My Mother’s Brain Tumour —
Yes, It was HER Tumour
but It affected so many —
and My Shower of Silver Lights —
Yes, It was MY Shower
It affected so many —
and Yes, It still does
The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:45pm
I Am Able To Set The Table
As I Am
Your Reason For Schizophrenia —
a played-out conundrum
I Am The Reason
The Intellect Behind
Child-like Frankness
I Am The Purpose
Behind Hallucinations
Sleep Deprivation
Voices From Afar
As I Am The Human Being
Capable Of Imagining
Any Vision, Any Dream
Capable Of Consuming
The Place Set
For Our Changing Minds
Yarmouth, NS 8:30pm
I saw that institutional building
in the sunset haze
over Yarmouth Harbour
perhaps for the last time
— Oh how I can taste being entrenched there
“Patient X”
a basket case
“with delusional aspects”
Who wouldn’t eat
for years it seemed
yet turning out of Yarmouth
a pink ray fell upon My Page
Joanna Gilman Hyde 