The One-Woman Play She Never Saw by Leslie M. Levy She turns her head away and casts her eyes to the floor, but I know she sees him: gray hair matted into dreadlocks, yellow eyes alive with visions, grinning mouth in perpetual motion. He performs a one-man play, a monolog of grunts, laughs, and chatter […]

I hope you enjoyed my poem. I wrote it several years ago, when I was not yet familiar with the term “self-stigma.” Self-stigma occurs when one with a mental health diagnosis internalizes the negative prejudices of the public (including children–even my own!). This phenomenon can have the unfortunate consequence of generating shame and effecting one’s self-esteem […]