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I have a dream of mental health!

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
This poem by Linette Bone was published in the October 1999 edition of "New Paradigm"

For the new millenia

I have a dream of mental health ...

(With gratitude to Martin Luther King)

I have a dream ...
that's been powering since 1620
and the Petition of the Poor Distracted people
in the house of Bedlam ...

I have a dream ...
as a person who's been stigmatised
since young and different,
since young and abused -
sexually, physically and emotionally ...

I have a dream ...
that's been fermenting since 1845
when the Alleged Lunatics Friends Society
was formed ...

I've had this dream ...
since being kneed in the back by police
shoved into a paddy wagon, injected
and involuntarily secluded even though I am a pacifist ...

And my dream ...
is inspired by the Native American Indians
who believe psychosis
is when a person talks with the spirits
and becomes a sacred person ...

This dream ...
has included all my fellow mentally ill
since holding my friend as sobs racked her
with anger at the psychiatric nurse who raped her ...

My dream ...
is thoroughly nourished
by Australian Aboriginal beliefs
that Kadditja Elders must intervene with the ancestors
For the sick person ...

It's a dream ...
that does not recognise sharp delineations
between Western mystics
and Loonies
who hear voices

And this dream ...
takes into account South Africa
where schizophrenia is a prerequisite
for initiation into Kalahari priesthood

The dream ...
whispers that this decade
promises human rights
with governments and strategies
with committees and recognition
with drug companies
and restricted biochemical strait-jacketing

Martin Luther King died for his dream ...
I want to stay well
nurture myself to take part
in the great struggle for human rights ...

... and there's only one hundred and thirty six
more sleeps until my dream comes true ...
 

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
And my dream ...
is inspired by the Native American Indians
who believe psychosis
is when a person talks with the spirits
and becomes a sacred person ..
That's a deep one, easy to misinterpret
 
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