Synkroniciti is excited to welcome poet Tammy Smith from New Jersey with “Why Mental Health Recovery is Hard,” a moving poem written in catalog verse. Also known as list poetry, this is an ancient form that feels extremely modern due to its flexibility. In a bold display of vulnerability, Tammy lists things, some personal and some universal, that make it difficult to recover from mental illness stemming from childhood trauma and abuse. All lines but two begin with “Because,” creating a repetitive structure that drives the poem forward.
“Because the nosy neighbor upstairs will call the cops and tell them I trashed my apartment./ I don’t feel safe asking for help./ Because cops come with men in white coats./ Because flashing red lights and wailing sirens are the backdrop to my circus life. Purplish bruises look like a bunch of tattoos a drunk clown carved into my skin.”
There is power in telling a story that is so often silenced, and Tammy pulls no punches in taking inventory of situations, actions and reactions that push the person struggling farther from safety and healing. If we want to recover, we have to understand the source of our wounding. In understanding it, we gain some power back.
Read “Why Mental Health Recovery is Hard” in Synkroniciti’s “Recovery” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Tammy Smith is a poet, a social worker, and a single mother from New Jersey. Her poetry has appeared in Eunoia Review, the New Verse News, Grand Little Things, Poem Alone, Verse-Virtual, and elsewhere.