Empowering Healing Through Art-
As a poet and writer I am grateful for every magazine or outlet that has ever published my work. It is a truly an honor when somebody says to you, 'your work is good enough for us' and proves that statement by publishing it. As such I am always looking to pay back kindness with kindness. So please allow me to introduce to you "The Awakenings Project".
Awakenings Project Mission Statement
"The Awakenings Project is a grass-roots initiative whose mission is to assist artists with psychiatric illnesses in developing their craft and finding an outlet for their creative abilities through art in all forms. The Awakenings Project also works to raise public awareness and acceptance of the creative talents of people living with psychiatric disorders who work in the fields of fine art, music, literature, and drama."
Check out their website. http://awakeningsproject.org/index.shtml
I see the Awakenings Project as a safe place where people with mental illness can express themselves and not feel inhibited or judged. People who suffer from psychological problems are a family, much in the same way 'veterans', or any other group who have shared a common experience are. The mentally ill, share a unique perspective in life, that only we can understand. In the Awakenings Project you will find work exclusively written by the mentally ill. For one that is mentally ill you will find the common chord. For those outside of our community you will find valuable insights to what makes us what we are.
I can recommend The Awakenings Project in two ways. One is to submit your artwork to them. I don't believe that there is an active call for work presently but it wouldn't hurt for you to contact them and inquire. Even if you have never been published before, here is an excellent place to begin. So much of getting published, is not so much as the quality of the poem, but finding the right match for what you wrote. Here is something written exclusively by the mentally ill, so that narrows the field of competition greatly.
Secondly the Awakenings Project is excellent reading for anybody. I enjoyed reading through my complimentary copy. Some of the works made me laugh and some made me think. A few even got under my skin and wretched my heart. I gave one of the issues I was published in to my psychiatrist as a gift.
Please allow me to present one of the poems the Awakenings Project published of mine.
Still Don’t Know
Sweet whispers under night’s sky
Why is heaven so high?
Clouds blowing to and fro
And I still don’t know
I have demons
Like heaven has its hell
I’ll keep on dreamin’
You really can never tell
Life’s confusion
Truth fades to illusion
You have all you desired
Cept what is required
You never came
Played me as if a game
Still you did give
It helped me to live
Yet the love didn’t grow
Still don’t know, still don’t know
Truth written in stone
Love’s essence never known
What more can I bring
Cept everything
Still don’t know, still don’t know
Still don’t know, still don’t know
Please check out my book “MurmuringsOf A Mad Man”
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