anyone can appreciate the light
no one checks
on the strong ones
not even when
you remind them to,
beg them to or subtly
cry out for help;
i know that i am strong
but why can’t you allow
me to be vulnerable?
sometimes even i need
to cry without feeling i will
be judged,
and always i am just expected
to shove my emotions down
so that others can be comfortable
in my presence;
but there are days where i am aching
i don’t need or want to wear a mask—
if you cannot handle my rain then
don’t stand with me and celebrate my
rainbows because anyone can appreciate
the light.
until he was gone
i still think of my uncle
twenty years later,
it will be twenty one
this october;
his depression was too strong
to hold at bay and he took
his own life because the demons
of this world were stronger
than he could endure—
i wish that people could’ve
known him and his art,
it was his dream that he could
just work on and sell his art;
had he held on a little longer maybe
with the internet he could’ve sold some
of his pieces—
i still have the last letter he gave me,
and he speaks of getting more bills than
personal mail and how he was grateful
for my letter;
i didn’t realize he had depression
until he was gone.
Bio: Linda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer. Her works have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies both online and in print. She is the author of ten poetry chapbooks, the latest being: Hecate’s Child (Alien Buddha Publishing, November 2021). She’s also the author of the novella Mates (Alien Buddha Publishing, March 2022). She has three micro-poetry collections out: Heaven Instead (Origami Poems Project, May 2018), moon mother (Origami Poems Project, March 2020.), and & so i believe (Origami Poems Project, April 2021). She has published four full-length poetry collections Vampire Daughter (Dark Gatekeeper Gaming, February 2020), The Sweetest Blood (Cyberwit, February 2020), Mythology of My Bones (Cyberwit, August 2020), and you will not control me (Cyberwit, March 2021).
Fevers of the Mind 
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