£5.00
175 in stock
48 Poems
By Arcangelo Tinsley
ISBN: 978-1-84991-417-8
Published: 2011
Pages: 69
Key Themes: poetry, psychosis, medication, depression
Description
‘Hospitalscapes’ is a collection of 48 poems describing my feelings and attitude towards medication and injections; the mental health system and the once-size-fits-all limited methods of treating patients. These poems include my views of the doctors, nurses and patients over a period of time during different occasions. I often felt extremely angry, depressed and despairing by the unnecessary harsh treatments, the mindless, inexorable boredom and longer detainment by the new team at a private long-stay hospital where I was transferred to because of a fire at the previous hospital.
My earlier release date for community leave at the previous hospital was superseded by new diagnoses at the private hospital. I was often kept in for days on end after an angry outburst as my only privilege of ground leave was withdrawn. This caused me to become even more depressed and more obese through lack of exercise while I tried my best to contain my anger.
There are numerous other reasons for my anger and despair often classed as “residual psychosis”, and a symptom of my ‘mental illness’ as well as ‘genetic’. I imagine the drugs are supposed to keep us quiet and docile so if we remain disturbed it is assumed that we have become drug resistant; therefore, it was deemed logical that more of the same drug must be given regardless of any further damaging and irreversible side effects. It was the most hellish nightmare I have ever experienced and I hope these poems express and convey the feelings which I deeply and vividly lived throughout a period of 7/24 for nineteen months. Fortunately, I was granted a discharge by an enlightened Mental Health Tribunal who granted me a conditional discharge.
About the Author
Arcangelo Tinsley was born in London in 1966. He attended twelve schools before
going to Essex University but left without completing his degree. He has worked as a
Cocktail Bartender; a Grounds Man at Lords Cricket Ground; an Assistant Teacher and
as a Carer.
Book Extract
They Walk Among Us
That one act – sometimes an act of madness –
sets them apart from the human race.
They may work, marry and mix freely with others,
but they remain contaminated by the act.
Self-imprisoned, they may find freedom
but are never truly free.
They know that they have broken an unspoken –
though loudly spoken, trumpeted
by the media and all those who turn away
in disgust – eternal law.
Thou shalt not kill –
as though printed on all souls from birth,
as deafening as a mantra
echoing throughout the astral realms between births.
The tissues of the soul remain stained
by this brief and fatal act.
The splitting of the atom
is the splitting of the victim’s skull.
The pinned butterfly
is the murdered man’s heart with a dagger through it.
They usually keep themselves to themselves
finding comfort in music and books or drink and drugs.
A third go on to destroy themselves.
The remaining two thirds endure.
Some take up religion
and cite Moses and St. Paul.
They live, but are partially dead.
They never forget.
S. A. D
It comes, every year, without fail,
as regular as a baby’s feed,
nature’s democratic jail,
leafless mutation from Satan’s seed.
Darkness like hot toffee clogging every pore,
witchy web from John O Groats to Lands End,
seasonal gargoyle who cannot be ignored
or mistaken for a friend.
Light boxes and anti depressants
can shoulder off but never defeat
this thick, depressingly incessant
radiation without any heat.
Our spirits grow strong and bright
under ice-dark adversity
even though this horrible night
neither gives nor promises mercy.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.