During this year’s Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival we have been out and about discovering what’s happening in communities.
It’s been great. What we have really enjoyed has been some of the amazing poetry, so we wanted to bring you a couple of our favorites.
First, an introduction to what is happening in Renfrewshire, from our champion Suzanne.
We have created a booklet of poems in recognition of the shared wisdom, resilience, creativity and kindness that exists within our communities. It celebrates the individual and collective strength, hope and compassion that occurs within our society.
The selected poems focus on the importance of ‘CONNECTION’ and the difference that it can make to someone’s health, wellbeing and recovery. To begin with, there is a poetic reminder that ending mental health stigma and discrimination is everyone’s business because we are all important and we matter… ALWAYS!
Toni, our social movement manager spent the day at Angus Creative Minds, where she met poet Mike Ramsay, and heard his poem Doon, on hiding how you’re feeling, dismissive views and considering suicide.
“Ye cannae be on-weel…” they say “…yer ay the life an’ soul,”
“There’s scarce a thing I’d think o, I couldnae see ye thole.“
“Ye’ve a wife an bairns tae think on, see’n be strong an’ mind on that,”
But it’s hard tae handle onythin, whaun ye feel a yaiseless twat.
Fowk only see the ootside an’ dinnae ken whit lies inside,
Nae confidence in yersel nae mair, a man bereft o pride.
Mony seem tae think it easy tae sit an’ tough things oot,
But depression empties a once clear heid, an’ fills it foo o doot.
Guid-minded fowk‘ll try tae gie ye a’sorts o sage advice,
“See a doc fur peels…dae’s yer tellt” it’ll be worth the price!
“Haul yirsel thegither… get some beer doon yer neck,”
Gie yersel a shak an’ bawl oot “whit the heck!”
But in the end it’s doon tae me wi support sae freely gie’d,
That picked us up an’ convinced me I wis better here than deid,
Life still has much tae offer and that ithers’ll help ye through,
An’ chill-winds o fate can howl at ye, but neednae mak ye blue.
