My Experience with Mental Illness

By Jackie ChouPico Rivera,  California, USA Having a mental illness you’re no fresh-facedone-time jaileeready to be releasedback to society Nor are you a teen girlleaving the mountains where you were raisedto go to collegeget two master’s degreesand write a book Having a mental illness you carry its invisible bars on your backfor your entire life With proper treatment the gnawing symptoms are kept at bayso are the locked wardsand prison doors

Planting Seeds

Kathabela Wilson - Pasadena, California, USA  (kw)Jackie Chou - Pico Rivera,  California, USA   (jc)Sigrid Saradunn - Bar Harbor, Maine, USA   (ss) a dark sideand a sunlit spacein the mindsof our new generation howto nourish their best inclinations   (kw) edible seedsadd texture to the fleshof the dragon fruitif only he could seepast my spiky exterior   (jc) learningto choose peace  at leadership campIrish teens room withIsraelis and Palestinians    (ss) sometimeswe don’t knowwhat we’ve sownin the minds of infantsthe turmoil we can’t control    (kw) on the borderI drop seedsto both sidessunflowers and poppieswatering them with tears    (kw) leaving the shellsof her sunflower seedsover the tablewhat example was momplanting in me   (jc)      Thanksgiving in Junecelebrating Seeds of Peacesharing a common mealstrangers now friends with similar feelings   (ss) a new…