May is Mental Health Awareness Month!!
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. As you may or may not know, poetry can be very healing especially for those who are mentally ill. As Anne Sexton stated-- "Poetry led me by the hand out of madness." Mental illness can also be a source of brilliance and creativity. Edgar Allan Poe reminds of this in his quote about himself -- " Men have called me mad but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence" . Many poets' writing has been shaped by their mental illness. Let us honor those pioneers --Sylvia Plath, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe, John Keats and Emily Dickinson -- as we read this piece below, "Alone" by Poe. I've also included one of my own, "Why?" behind it. Don't forget to remember those who are suffering and honor them with your time and effort this month! Alone By Edgar Allan Poe From childhood's hour I have not been As others were; I have not seen As others saw; ...