MHI: UGLY SWEATER POEM by Jessica Drake-Thomas

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health

The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.

UGLY SWEATER POEM
Jessica Drake-Thomas

Depression is a heavy
wool sweater, drenched
by spring rain—clinging, clammy,
weighted, hot. A turtleneck
sweater, strangling me
with tightening, clutching
fingers. With long, droopy
sleeves that hang
like handcuffs. Feels like a hair
shirt—scratching til I
bleed, soaking up
my pain sacrifice. It’s in
my skull, attempting to
shove out through bone
walls, migraine haze of
fireworks. Orange and
green, it oozes ugly,
devours what’s left of me
with toothless mouth,
a hand-knit straightjacket,
wants me subdued, secret serial killer
goes until I’m red-wrecked: a pile
of cherries, stone hearts torn
out.