About This Poem

The Quiet After: Would my Absence Matter?

This poem is drawn from my own experiences with my mental health. I’ve stopped using words like “struggles” as mental health doesn’t always need to be a negative. Conversations about mental health are usually framed as a negative: “how’s your mental health” usually infers that there is a struggle going on.
Interestingly, we don’t tend to do this when asked things like “how is your physical health”. Usually our response is much more positive (unless there is something going on, of course).

I often find that the thoughts I observe lean into the “nobody would miss you if you weren’t around” or “if something happened to you, people would be secretly glad” (at this point I’m being almost uncomfortably open to you, the reader). I have been meaning to put a poem together about this for some time.

I found that the early drafts surfaced ideas which were so preposterous, I decided to take them out. This is when writing really acts as a healer and a crutch. I didn’t expect this learning experience from writing this piece, but I’m grateful for it.

If you read this, and it resonates, then I want you to know that you’re not alone.