Newsletter #20 — Put It To Rest: A Mental Health Community of Poets and Bloggers

Writing prompt highlights and our updated writers’ page

The month of November came and went, and we would like to thank our writers who contributed to the writing prompt on how connecting more to the self, results in connecting more with others.

We also had other contributions of poetry and prose on topics such as romantic relationships, mother-daughter relationships, celebrating the self, aging, addiction, and facing the death of a loved one.

Put It To Rest wishes to highlight the pieces in response to the writing prompt as well as submissions that stood out.

We updated Our Writers’ Feature Page, and encourage you to pay it a visit!

Put It To Rest would like to also revisit our roots to showcase two poems previously published by founder Lindsay Soberano-Wilson by other writers, including Iranian poet, Mahdieh Motevali, and James Buchanan, a dear friend who Lindsay lost due to suicide.

The Suspended Season of Your Eyes by Mahdieh Motevali:

Autumn has befallen the people of this city;
And, you have befallen me.
Listen to how close we are to one another.
Right underneath my eyes,
The unboundedness of your presence is streaming.

She is an Iranian poet who has always had a passion for poetry and sharing emotions in written form. As Ayush Bhavsar says, “Words allow me to travel, through woods, rivers, and spaces.”

A Perfect Moment by James Buchanan (1975–2017):

The music was perfect
my body and mind felt calm
I felt a perfect moment that
I thought might be
what heaven was like

This poem was written by my dear friend, James, who is no longer with us. I am housing it in Put It To Rest as he was an advocate for mental health. I write about our relationship in Finding Rest in the Unrest of a Friend’s Suicide.

Writing Prompt Features

Connect to the Self to Connect to Others by Vincent Pisano

Loving myself has been one of the toughest journeys that I have ever had to navigate through within myself. Over the years, it was always difficult for me to even accept compliments or to think that others would like me or love me for me. Loving myself gives me the freedom to reveal the elements of my daily life or mind that I hid or thought that people wouldn’t want to read.

What Does Wellness Look Like? by Richard Steele

In the heat of the afternoon, I went to the Student Union for a cool soft drink, and as I descended the stairs when a feeling came over me: supreme confidence, the lifting of post-high-school anxieties, and the sense of certainty that I was on the correct path. You are supposed to be here, Rick Steele.

Live Out Loud by Lindsay Soberano-Wilson

Live
Out
Loud.

So that others
can live
out
loud too.

Conscious Parenting Is When I Connect With Myself To Connect With My Kids by Lindsay Soberano-Wilson

I’ve found a home in the conscious parenting style. That’s why I strive to connect with myself so I can connect more authentically with others, especially my three sons.

Conscious parenting is the belief that in order to address issues with our children that the key is in addressing our approaches and responses. Instead of striving to “fix” their child, parents look inward at themselves.

Poetry

The Birds of Death Rebecca Herz

The vultures arrive in thick flocks
Through my mind on repeat

The whirring concurring with my pain
What can be worse than losing love?

Awaken by Jennifer L. Stafford

I feel free when I feel me.
Breathtaking beauty of being.
Heart racing and beating.
Sweat dripping.

What Are the Fears That Are Holding Us Back Melissa Steussy

I am coming to a place
Where I know it is safe to struggle
That there is solace on the other side
Of my deepest pain

When You Step Off The Ride by Lindsay Soberano-Wilson

Like the time when
I was only 17
and raves and my friends
were everything
until the dusty pink
sun rose
and streaks of light
replaced the blinding strobe lights
in the lonely warehouse
over the docks
of Lake Ontario

Good Night, Old Sport by Stephanie Parry

My Friend-
late-night gab sessions & dancing gigs
at bars where music and lights
help us forget
the pain of insecure existence

Prose

Diary of the Directionless by Charlie Cole

I may not have the most impressive life, story, and road ahead of me, but I damn well have stayed true to myself and that’s just about the best one could hope for at the end of it all.

A Parade of Laughter and Smile by Dominik Formanowicz

How to remain all those healthy patterns then? How to maintain all those routines of getting up at 7 am, doing yoga, eating healthy, thinking healthy, and acting in self-respectful, non-destructive ways?

How to make life stable when life is not just us; it’s a plethora of people, networks, and enterprises so independent of us?

When you make yourself a promise of staying sane, you will quickly find out that the world has not taken the same oath.

Open for Submissions

Put It To Rest celebrate the light after the rain and inspires writers to explore their voices to tell their stories and finally “put them to rest.”

So if your writing is raw and vulnerable and you’re ready to put it to rest, then consider joining our growing community of poets, essayists, and short story writers.

Put It To Rest accepts personal essays, poetry, and short stories about life experiences that have weighed on your mental health and that you wish to explore through writing as a therapeutic endeavor.

House your work here to Put It To Rest where you can grow as a writer and eventually be featured on Our Writers page.

I am happy to be an editor and help others grow their audience and improve their writing. I want to also help those who consider themselves new to writing to tell their story and reap the benefits of this exercise.

I want to help you to tell your story.

*Please follow the submission guidelines so we can do so together!*

Support the Put It To Rest writing community by following us across all social media platforms, including Medium, Twitter, and Instagram.

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