Winter 2025 - Vol. 22, Issue 1

I became the craziest

Person in the room,

Then I was asked to leave,

After which, I was just another soul

Wandering toward some past goal;

I became scared, and,

Fearful I was the craziest-

Person alive,

Asked for help,

From those whom I could-

Share with what I had become,

So, I became a patient

In denial of my memories

Of being asked to leave

The room of my peers,

For I could not accept

What I had become;

Begrudgingly I ate the pills

The doctors prescribed,

I became a regular client

At the mental health office,

Eventually, I became, once again

Able to remember the me I was-

Before I became shunned,

And of that thought,

I would not let go,

Striving every day,

No longer wandering,

But toward my goal,

Of shedding what I had become;

But,

I became a failure,

Many times, at work and school,

Before I became a success-

I even became the most-functioning,

Craziest person in the room,

Unfortunately, I had to remove

myself from the good company,

For memories of a long past me,

Being asked by my peers to leave,

I could not shake;

Therefore, in order to square away

The sequelae of life,

I wrote, sang, and painted

Until I became me.