"Have you ever wondered why everything that has been said and written about mental health over the years hasn't done much to really create awareness about the topic?
My name is Kemfon Grace Monday from Nigeria. I'm one of those who offered her experiences to this collection.
I was privileged to be among the first persons to read and reflect on this collection after it was published. To be honest, I have never been a fan of poetry. Not that I don't like poems, but recently it feels like poets are becoming trite, no offense, especially in the case of mental health.
When my mom died, like I shared in the pages of these collection. I was advised to find a way to deal with my grief and I thought I could find solace in the lines and verses of poetry. But all I could find was hackeyed words of how time heals and how time can make me forget.
It's not just on grief, poets these days seem to tiptoe around topics on mental health. They write what they think people want to hear, but this collection is so different. The authors weren't afraid to tell people the truth... the hard truth. That, there are experiences we don't heal from, memories that we can't escape, and that time in it's measurements can only dull the ache, never erase it. It can only make the hole smaller, never fill it. It can patch up the wound, and never fade away the scars.
Honestly, when I heard the name of this collection, I thought it would be just another cliche. A collection of how broken things can be mended and how fractured minds can find a way to heal. But that's far from it, this collection isn't about mending what's broken or healing, it's about accepting these shards, learning to navigate life even with our fractured minds that probably will never heal as long as we live.
Take for instance, 'Fractured Lives', the part of this collection that focuses on the disabled and those restrained. The authors didn't try to tell these people that it's alright to be disabled or that it will be okay. Yes, they spoke of acceptance, but not like other poems I've read. Using the vignettes shared from those who find themselves in the situation, they tried to relate to others that acceptance will never be easy, in fact, it will take daily and constant affirmations of acceptance to get through and that it's alright if acceptance is never achieved.
It's no wonder that since we've started talking and writing about mental health, nothing seems to have changed. Globally, suicide toll is still on a rise, more and more people sink into depression daily and in trying to heal from traumatic experiences, they end up even more traumatized.
Most would say that I'm hyping this collection, but I mean it, this is different. It's not a collection on what you want to hear, rather what you need to hear. And I strongly believe that after reading and reflecting on it, you wil
l agree with me."
