Two Poems With redrosethorns
I have two poems live today with online journal redrosethorns! If you’re unfamiliar with this journal their About Me describes their mission very well:
“redrosethorns is a woman-owned educational publication that promotes mental health and advocates for gender and sexuality education. We provide insightful literature and resources to connect our readers, believing that education is key to breaking stigma and fostering healing. Our content focuses on addressing mental health challenges and offering actionable steps toward building one’s self-worth.”
About Me from redrosethorns
I really resonated with this mission and love the intersection of gender, education, and mental health combining in a unique way I don’t see often in other journals. My pieces explore my journey with mental health. “A Canterbury Tale from My Bedroom” explores how anxiety and depression create isolation within the home. I was inspired to write this poem after attending a poetry open mic (ironic!). An individual there was discussing their hike through the Camino de Santiago and encouraging others to fly out and embark on this great journey to help find creative sparks!
I was reeling with thoughts at suggestion as COVID restrictions were still present not including the expense and time to travel for such an expended period in Europe! Money was going towards part time pre-school which cost more than my mortgage! I thought to myself, hell, I’m lucky to get out the door some days, that’s MY Camino de Santiago! And thus the poem was born.
“Thoughts from a Neuro-Divergent Gamer” was written randomly but was generally inspired by a presentation I did in 2019 at a convention call “Mental Health and Video Games” where I explored the depiction of mental health imagery in video games, particularly the horror genre, alongside some other topics (I still have a copy of the PowerPoint so if anyone is interested let me know I can I post it!). I love horror, especially video games, but I’ve always had mixed feelings about how mental health is depicted. For example, I really enjoy Silent Hill 2’s depiction of grief and loss through repression or how the town manifests the unresolved traumas of those who are called back. The Suffering is an excellent game but I had mixed feelings about Dr. Killjoy. He could be another archetype playing into the role of the crazed doctor who tortures his patients (not exactly helping fighting the stigma against getting treatment) but he also could be a criticism of unethical treatment forced upon prisoners and/or those forced into asylums facing abysmal conditions and barbaric “treatment”. I was not a fan of the enemy type who were literally called “lunatics”, donning mouth and head restraints, in Batman: Arkham Asylum. As far as I recall, Batman never comes to question their treatment in Arkham Asylum just beats them unconscious so they can be put back into their cell. Batman, you’re supposed to be the good guy here! Games like Outlast where the backdrop is an asylum and the enemies are patients also call into questions their depictions of mental illness.
Anyway, I could write forever about mental health and video games but long story short, this poem is one exploration of my thoughts and experiences. You can read my pieces and many others at these links: https://www.redrosethorns.com/post/a-canterbury-tale-from-my-bedroom & https://www.redrosethorns.com/post/thoughts-from-a-neuro-divergent-gamer
