Cameron Hartley Poet Narrative

Poetry As a Form of Therapy

The walls of the doctor's office
Are blue.
Blue is a color that's supposed to
Calm, to soothe.
The doctor and the nurse both have
Blue eyes.

They are telling me
About the magic pill
That will make 
All of my problems 
Go away...

The nurse asks,
"Don't you want to be 
Like everyone else?"
I don't answer...
Not immediately.
I ask if I can answer
Next time I come back.

I'm still thinking
Of those words...
Don't you want to be
Like everyone else?
If I hear-
If I hear lines in my head
Chasing eachother around
Like hallucinations, 
Hear voices speaking poetry,
Is this what it means
To be schitzophrenic?

Don't you want to be
Like everyone else?
If I start speaking with a ryhthm then
To speak in iambic pantameter-
Is this like OCD behavior?-

Don't you want to be
Like everyone else?
If I stay up all night-
Have you ever stayed up all night?
Have you ever gone outside
And sat in your backyard 
At 3am and felt how... peaceful...
The darkness was- listened as
The wind whispered love songs
And watched the sky
Until the first light of dawn
Brushed the sky's cheek
With her fingers?
Did you look for words
To describe the first kiss 
Of sunshine?
I've always loved
To write about
The sunrise...

Don't you want to be
Like everyone else?
I haven't written poetry 
In a month but
I still can't sleep-

Don't you want to be
Like everyone else?
I haven't written poetry
In two months, and
I don't know why-
I don't think I can, 
I think-
Maybe my heart broke...
I don't care if I see
The sunrise...

Don't you want to be
Like everyone else?
I slept for 15 hours straight
But I'm not quite sure,
It doesn't feel like I ever
Really woke up-

Don't you want to be
Like everyone else?
I just want... to write.

Don't you want to be
Like everyone else?
I wrote a poem today...
I wrote about the sunrise.
I've always loved to write
About the sunrise.

Don't you want to be
Like everyone else?
I know I probably seem
Tired at the moment;
People have been
Telling me that-
I haven't slept much
For a few days or so,
I've been writing too much
Poetry...
People keep telling me
I look so happy.

The doctor asked me 
Don't you want to be 
Like everyone else?
...No. I don't.
But I didn't say this. 
I nodded like
They wanted,
And then wrote
It in a poem-
The one place
I never have to 
Lie.

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Louise Holley April 26, 2014 at 6:49 AM wow I love this. I wish i could think of something better than that to write here but this kind of gobsmacked me. Its poetic therapy and i am glad poetry makes you as happy and helps you as much as it does me. This is just wonderful stuff. It is going in my faves