I Go From Bad to Verse

I’ve written a book, but it’s not the usual kind of “I’ve got this disorder, this is how I deal”. My book is funny and it rhymes. I think it helps people. Those I’ve shared it with said it’s made it easier to understand the illness without making it obvious that that’s what I am doing. I rhyme a lot, make fun of psychiatry and talk about the hospital as an imperfect place that doesn’t promise a cure, but does the best it can. I make fun of the food, my own doctor, and talk about friends I’ve made, and lost. My last poem talks about self-injury, which to some people might be disturbing, but it is a part of my illness, so I write about it.

I Go from Bad to Verse is not like any other book – it makes my story approachable; in between readable verses, I explain how I came to write each poem. I think anyone can pick it up and grasp what someone with a chronic illness goes through. Just because an illness is a mental one shouldn’t stop it from being understandable and have people relate to it. Donna S. Rubin