At 60 years old Denis has been fighting bipolar for much of his adult life. His condition isn’t something that he's ever really spoken about before, but he feels it has allowed him to excel in many areas of his life particularly his creativity – he has been refining his artistic skills for the past 30 years. He is currently working on a collection of poems which he hopes to publish and he's kindly shared two of his these with us.

  

MH

 

MH is on the rise, frankly that is no surprise

Growing pressure of everyday

From work to pleasure, come what may

There is a darkness that shrouds my mind

It's heaviness near makes me blind

 

Stress, strain

I feel it drain the living life from me

From the ticking clock which never stops

It plays inside my brain

 

Clockwork Orange

Pill, red and blue

Which rabbit hole will you go through?

 

Alice staring through the looking glass

A mirror of all that's past

Yellow brick road that leads to OZ

Only to discover there is no God

 

Dorothy just click your heels

For Kansas City was never real

Fantasia was symphonic utopia

Animal Farm had me alarmed

 

1984 was just a set of numbers

Room 101 was just no fun

2020 was Covid-19

Spikes wasn't Milligan

Nor did the government have a plan

 

I was just a man

Who clearly didn't understand

Gender neutral, is not a gearbox

Nor is wearing odd coloured socks

 

I paint one nail just to be different

Wear one earring to conform

Never quite knowing which is the norm

I like black, to hide my fat

 

Does this mean I am mad

Actually no

Life is just a journey

of discovery day by day

Some like to follow rules

Whilst others like to play

 

MH

Is part of me

I can't hide or lie

Yes, one day it will consume me

Hopefully when I die.

 

 

  

Bipolar

                                           

Everyone run for the hills! This person’s very ill!

  

Er… Cut.

 

Let's start again bipolar is just a condition

It doesn't mean you’re mad, sad or even very BAD.

 

Misunderstood yes that may be

So, let's take a look and see.

 

Ask a bipolar person

What they would say is their version.

 

Gifted and very much misunderstood

It's amazing how one could

I'm like an open book for all to see

Yeah some can wear their hearts on their sleeves

Others are drama queens if you please.

 

Yes, we swing from left to right

sometimes so far that we're outta of sight

But what does it matter

We hear your chatter

 

From as mad as a hatter

to genius or insane

It's not we need another label again

We're actually quite stable

Meds by the bedside table.

 

We don't often fall

We talk to counsellors and all

Our world is fast n furious

Some won’t keep up with our pace

Johnny astronaut is in space

 

Yes, we have things that spin in our mind

A kaleidoscope of thoughts and philosophies

Formula's equations and atrocities

Patterns in the mix

Leaves most people betwixt

  

Our talent shows it all

From our creations to our mess

There is no one best

We think outside the box as they really do not fit us

We shape the world around us

You see this is what we do.

 

Most of us are artists in own right

Having lived in a society that sees it as a plight

We are by far the gifted of them all

  

For we are God's handiwork

Just like you would like to think

Spare a thought the next time

Not to judge us that are bipolar

For we are human to.

 

©Denis Brown 2018