Short Stay

By Cindy Collins

'Short Stay' is a poetry collection
Using rhyme and prose
With a mental illness theme
That shall inform and expose
Representing the truly fragmented
The melancholic and sad
Each poem is composed by a woman
Predominantly mad.

'Short Stay' is a poetry collection about mental illness and the experience of being inside a psychiatric hospital. It explores loneliness, sadness, self-harm, trauma, suicide, recovery, and the emotions that can come with trying to understand your own mind. The poems offer a glimpse into psychiatric care and the people behind the diagnoses.

Welcome to 'Short Stay.'
Step inside the locked doors of a psychiatric hospital, where every person has a story to tell.
'Short Stay' is named for exactly what it is, a brief visit into a world that most people never get to see.

I wrote these poems while I was in a psychiatric hospital as a teenager, during the time I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. I was living through a period of my life that was confusing and incredibly lonely.
Writing became one of the ways I made sense of what was happening around me and inside my own head.

These poems came directly from that experience.

Some were written when I was struggling, some were written when I was trying to understand what was happening to me. Others came from just observing the strange little world inside a psychiatric ward, like the people, the routines, and the emotions that seemed to change from one moment to the next.

There is a lot of sadness in this book, but there is also humanity.
I didn't want to romanticise mental illness or turn psychiatric hospitalisation into something poetic and beautiful just for the sake of it. I wanted to write about it as I experienced it.

'Short Stay' was the first poetry book I ever wrote.
I completed it as a teenager, which is one of the reasons I still hold it so close to my heart.
When I read it now, I can see the younger version of myself in these poems.
I can see how desperately I was trying to understand myself, my diagnosis and the world around me.
I've changed a lot since I wrote this book, and so has my writing, but I don't think I'll ever stop being grateful to that younger version of me for putting all of these words on paper.

'Short Stay' is for anyone who has experienced mental illness, spent time in psychiatric care, loved someone who has, or just wants to understand a little more about what life behind those locked doors can actually feel like.

Some of these poems are difficult. Some are extremely melancholic. Some are very raw.
But they were written by someone who was there.

Trigger warning: this book contains themes of mental illness, self-harm, sexual assault, and suicide.
Please read with care and take what you need from these pages.

A short stay in a psychiatric hospital can change you. This book might, too.

(If you enjoyed 'Short Stay, ' you might also like 'Tencha Tea, ' my most recent poetry publication.)

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0BN7KH7KR
• ISBN13: 9798364351616
• Release Date: November 2022
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 8.0"