MHI: THE STAIRS by Marge Simon

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.

THE STAIRS
Marge Simon

You are the man ascending the stairs,
hunched, contorted, hands tied behind your back,
a tree of owls in your eyes.

You carry the weight of suppressed rain,
the death of land, the seasons of stress
etched in the planes of your face.

Underneath the fingerprint of plague,
in the shaved blue dark, you bow down,
consumed with worry for the future.

Should you fail to mount the topmost stair
Reach out to us, your fellow writers,
Happy to give a boost at a needful time.