state of mind
My poem, “state of mind” is a sort of satire piece about American society’s popular/mainstream train of thought regarding mental health in the year 2019 (Now 2020, that was just the year I wrote it and I feel it’s grown evermore relevant throughout the COVID-19 pandemic). I pick on both sides of the argument so as to maybe nudge the reader into asking more questions about the topics being discussed; How far are we, as a society, going to continue to romanticize, glorify, commodify, and defend all of the latter?
The rate of suicide in America is the highest it’s ever been. To say there’s no correlation between pop artists output (ex. Lil Peep) and the thousands who “self-diagnose” or wear their mental conditions like a trophy for all to see. The number of people dying by suicide or the sharp increase in mental conditions are perhaps going to people who just wanted to con their way into grabbing a script to make a profit, which would be absurd. It’s all interconnected; It’s not about putting others down or denying them of their diagnosis & not being sympathetic. It’s about changing the narrative from making memes and touting a disorder as fashionable in subliminal ways to talking about how one’s condition is making them do all types of things and that it’s not normal nor healthy, they need someone to talk to and they need help. That was my goal for the themes in this poem, I hope you enjoy it.
I’d rather be Solid than Liquid
better than Venom
as some are so toxic
always playing the victim.
Call an 800-number
for depression misnomer,
prescribed brand name
state sponsored addiction.
“There’s something wrong,
there’s always something wrong!”
So smoke more marijuana,
pay no mind to paranoia,
and ignore the words of your mom
— They don’t know anything…
You’re Tumblr diagnosed,
flaunting off only accepting
social media support
falling flat and coming short
when likes don’t tally up,
what else could you exploit
and extort?
When you grab that gun and
wear that duster,
know you’ve fed no problems
into having them forever.
NJS 2020
Nicolas Joseph Shanks
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