Art by Chelsea Bednar
Stress, layered thick--
time, blurred, falling like bricks,
enclosing on me--
My mind coils and recoils
like hammering nails,
refusing to stop-- stop, STOP!
Escape from depression,
Where are my pills?
Pull this madness- away, AWAY!
I put the canvas aside,
and start all over -
this bloodletting ritual
I can't let go.
Posted for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Artistic Interpretations with Margaret
Author's Note: I attended a session yesterday on Drugs/Health Management and I was aghast on the extent the pharmaceutical companies have partnered with doctors to prescribed brand and expensive drugs to "treat" depression & diseases for patients.
The speaker who worked for the pharmaceutical company and then move to our insurance industry said, "There is no solid evidence that our mind is chemically unbalanced." Let us address the stress and start eating and living a normal healthy life, free from dependency on drugs. You can read more here.
art is sometimes a torture or you meant something else? :)
ReplyDeletePS I have a case of serious depression within my family and it's true that doctors almost always treat it only with tones of medicines and pills :(
DeleteThe process of writing is a torture but it doesn't wreck the mind ~ Drugs do, specially when its prescribed with the intention to make you dependent on it ~ The lady speaker said its mainly due to the stress of life ~ Some just need to slow down and think of alternative careers and lifestyles ~ How sad for your family Dezzy ~
DeleteI'm blown away by the ending, Grace. Powerful stuff.
ReplyDeleteThank you MZ ~
DeleteI could not agree more with your notes! Great write, Grace.
ReplyDeleteThanks Helen ~
DeleteDrugs have there place, but are way WAY overused. Like the reference falling like bricks... depression is so damaging and I think stress does play a huge role.
ReplyDeleteI am also amazed at how quickly doctors are to give out pills to help loose weight...
Doctors have quotas and are rewarded when they hit it ~ If you want to lose weight, just exercise and eat healthy, no need for those pills really ~ Thanks for the wonderful challenge Margaret ~
DeleteYou have certainly tapped into the emotion of this artwork.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kerry ~
Deletei hear you...working with kids i see many of them that are over medicated by their psychiatry....ugh....it gets pretty nasty...and def is related to the money....
ReplyDeleteThat is sad Brian ~
Deleteabsolutely, the need to bleed for art
ReplyDeleteI like your perspective ~ Thank you Emma ~
Deletesame with everything, all they want to do is shove some worthless pill down your throat, that just gives you another disease that just gives you another worthless pill haha
ReplyDeleteMy mind coils and recoils
ReplyDeleteThink we all recognise this feeling! :)
Definitely agree that pills should not be used as the simple solution to a very complex problem. Your poem spoke to the problem well.
ReplyDeleteYour poem is excellent, Grace!! You capture so well this state of mind and pair it perfectly with such an important topic...I agree...big med companies...they're not in it to win our health back...that's for certain. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteBloodletting is one way. Gosh.
ReplyDeleteGrace,
ReplyDeletePain within the walls of the mind..you captured this well in the second stanza.
The poem really does capture the feel of this piece of art I think. I think drugs do have a place in treatment of clinical depression but life style has to be managed as well I think. It is a very complex thing.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading a bit about Virginia Woolf and your poem definitely reminded me of her. And it is shocking to know that such a nexus could actually exist.
ReplyDeletevery very profound! so much has become commercial...sad..
ReplyDeletePowerful poem grace and very hard hitting. Works fantastically with the art and has a real message. Very well done
ReplyDeleteThis is very timely and apropos in this day and age...
ReplyDeleteI think you get the desperation and feeling of fragmentation across perfectly here, Heaven--and when people are scared, they are so easy to exploit...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, everything is pills, pills, and more pills.
ReplyDeleteWonderful interpretation you've written.
Amazing coincidence, the prompt and the discussion about doctors, drugs, and pharmaceutical companies. I've known so many doctors who seem to blindly follow the "advice" they get from the drug lords.
ReplyDeleteIt is particularly difficult now, when I am no longer young enough, strong enough, or verbal enough to argue enough.
This is wonderfully done, Grace. I appreciate it.
K
You have captured the frustration of dealing with stress so well with this poem and the search for an alternative to pills. I agree with you completely about the overuse of pills for so many conditions. Your words work so well with the art work as well.
ReplyDeleteSad, there are other ways-for some! Well Done Grace-great interpretation!!!
ReplyDeleteMy aunt became dependent on pills-so sad!
My husband's family is full of chemicals for depression and still they wallow in despair. It is so scary we deal with life by not dealing or should I say we search out legal drug dealers to formulate our escape.
ReplyDelete