I am going to try and post commentary about some of the poems in the book.
Let’s start with one of my motivators: Depression.
Most people have felt depressed, sad, melancholic, or just down from time to time. This is normal and it’s not depression in and of itself. No. The depression I speak of is orders of magnitudes greater, darker, deeper.
I had an extended bout of it in my teens. It was so debilitating that I can’t even find words adequate enough to express its intensity. Those who have experienced it know exactly what I mean.
The poems, Vow, and Tempest Looming are my attempt at capturing the sense that depression leaves you with. The sense that it is lurking waiting for a moment of weakness. A vicious predator stalking its prey.
I found my own way out of the pit of despair and developed a system to keep depression at bay that seems to have worked for me. I needed to become more self-aware, to easily identify what emotions I was feeling. This helped me identify signposts that served as early warnings that depression may be encroaching.
I would recommend anyone who is dealing with depression, seek help. Find a support group, a mental health provider, counselor, or such. There is absolutely no shame in it. You also have to find a way to self-analyze, to get to know your inner self. Most people don’t have a clue about themselves.
Think about. When you are all alone, just before bed, do you like you? Do you know you? Do you know what you are feeling right now?
Acien Rising 