MHI: DEPRESSION IS A BITCH by Linda Kay Hardie

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.

DEPRESSION IS A BITCH
Linda Kay Hardie

Because of her, my get-up-and-go
got up and went.
Where it went, I don’t know,
and to be honest, I don’t even care.
That’s depression.
Bitch.

She turns my house into an episode
of Hoarders.
No energy to even bend down
and pick up what I’ve dropped.
Let it lie there until it can behave itself.
That’s depression.
Bitch.

It’s not writer’s block
if I simply don’t have the spoons
to tap the keyboard.
Or the energy to even
chronicle what happened today.
Let alone describe how I feel.
That’s depression.
Bitch.

No energy
even to complain.
No energy
to look for a solution.
No energy
to ask for help.
No energy
even to care.
No energy
to cry.
Depression is a bitch.
But so am I.

When I find a spoon,
I take my traumas
and name them, characterize them.
Write them into stories.
I let them stalk me, but then
I kill them gruesomely
and gracefully.
And with glee.

(Pats fresh dirt with shovel)
Take that, bitch!