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Topsy Turvy Trip, by Peggy Gerber

17/2/2021

8 Comments

 
TRAVEL
I once took a trip to Crazy Town,
where reality was transformed upside down,
where the black of night consumed my day,
and red horned demons came out to play.
I felt trapped like a caged bird inside my head,
and it took all my courage just to get out of bed.

It’s easy to get lost in Crazy Town,
where insurance determines who will be found,
where help is available to those who have money.
The state of our healthcare is anything but funny!
I fought like a lion, clawing my way back home,
and it took all my courage just to write this poem.
8 Comments
yehudis
17/2/2021 09:23:24 pm

This poem speaks for so many people who are just trying to get by day by day. I applaud it because the people who can identify with it, can gain strength from knowing they are not alone.

Reply
Sue Clayton
17/2/2021 11:43:37 pm

Well done, Peggy, on both your poem, courage and insight into the mind of someone weighed down by life.

Reply
Peggy Gerber
18/2/2021 12:29:00 am

Thank you so much Sue and Yehudis for your kind words. As a person who suffers with anxiety, I know it is something not often talked about. With this pandemic going on mental health issues at an all time high, and it is just the time to talk.

Reply
Jessalyn
18/2/2021 03:32:24 am

You so eloquently depict what its like to go on a "vacation" that you never signed up for

Reply
Sandra James
19/2/2021 02:23:03 am

Thank goodness, anxiety and other mental health problems are being talked (and 'poemed') about more than they were in my late grandmother's day. We have a long way to go but your courage really helps to foster a little understanding in those who have never walked in someone else's shoes. Well done, Peggy :)

Reply
Mary Wallace
19/2/2021 03:19:57 am

I think I live in Crazy Town. Anxiety is so hard to throw off. Well portrayed Peggy.

Reply
Nicole
19/2/2021 04:00:58 am

I love the juxtaposition of the rhyming and whimsical name crazy town with the heaviness of the actual subject. You could read it to a child and they would be entertained. But you can also read it to anyone who has been to crazy town, and they can identify. The pandemic has really amplified the mental health crisis in this country, and the disparities of what is available to those with good insurance and money vs. those without is devastating. I appreciate this poem.

Reply
Candace Arthuria Williams
23/2/2021 06:37:30 pm

So do I. It gives us insight into the suffering invisible. I will never take my own mental health for granted. Never again. Courageous reporting, Peggy.

Reply



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    Poetry

    This is the section where fiction prose becomes something else. We still expect the poems to be short, though – sonnets, perhaps, or around that length at the very most.

    Poems submitted should be
    no longer than 160 words
    and contain
    no more than 16 lines.

    100 words remains the approximate target.

    Please submit using the Submissions Page.


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