Depression Tantra
I stare my depression in the face “Who brought you here?” I ask “Why am I letting you say?” Tell me, tell me everything Because I already know every nasty painful thing it has to say I will listen to it and seriously consider its arguments accusations assertions That I beat myself with I chew them up like a savage starving beast tear shred chew Devouring hurtful depression Ingesting torturous recriminations Inhaling self-destructive anger I force myself to fully understand it reasons its wants its pain My depression is mine I accept it I invalidate it I outsmart it I invoke my survival beast to savagely fight I rebuild myself from the primitive to the thinking and I go on I howl my victory “GRAHHRR! RAHHR! GRAGHRR! RAHR!
Bio: Yrik-Max Valentonis is the author of 120 Days of Gomorrah and Cranium Theatre. His comics and writings have appeared the chapbooks: iDEAL and this is visual poetry; the anthologies: the Alien Buddha’s Block Party, The Alien Buddha Goes Pop, the Alien Buddha’s House of Horrors #3, the Alien Buddha’s Snail Mail, Animal Blessings, Beer-Battered Shrimp for Cognitive Ruminations (forthcoming), Divided Again, Heat the Grease We’re Frying Up Some Poetry, the Last Time the Alien Buddha Got Sooo High, Sinbad and the Winds of Destiny, and Zombie Nation: St. Pete. He earned a BA in English & American Literature from the University of South Florida and a MFA in Poetry & Prose from Naropa University.
Fevers of the Mind 