Posted by Dr. Bob on March 5, 2002, at 17:17:16
In reply to Re: on medicating bi-polar artists « sue doe, posted by Dr. Bob on March 5, 2002, at 17:15:28
[Posted by beardedlady on March 5, 2002, at 11:24:09]
> My therapist told me, after my first visit to him, that I would sleep better if I got back to writing poetry. I used to be active in the poetry scene in my town--was poetry editor of a couple newspapers and mags. I had only written one poem in the three years since my daughter was born. So I started writing again, and voila! I slept! And I kept writing, and I kept sleeping. And then I started working on my other art projects, and I slept even better and better.
>
> I am still medicated, but it's one pill, and it's a low dose. But the point is that meds can't work alone. You have to be willing to nurture yourself--especially if you've been stifling creativity. My therapist said that artists who aren't creating art can make themselves ill. It's not a chicken/egg thing. Some folks would be ill anyway. But without making art, they get iller. (Yes, I said iller.)
>
> The first poem I wrote--the warm-up, I call it--is about panic:
>
>
> the panic
>
> starts in the chest—an off beat
> a flutter, a jump, heavy.
> the breath is all wrong,
> fast and short and used.
> hands sweat.
> throat closes.
> the swallow is elusive.
> legs, restless, tremble
> and muscles tic and twitch and spasm.
> you are crazy.
> you will die.
>
> and when it’s all over
> there’s the road hum
> the body writhing under still skin.
> your bones, pudding
> your pores, nerve ends
> your veins, empty.
>
> there is no ladder.
> no one can talk you down.
> so you can stay there—out there on that limb
> —out there on that ledge
> and worry about falling off.
>
> but if you jump
> you will have jumped.
>
> beardy : )>
poster:Dr. Bob
thread:18957
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020305/msgs/19353.html