CHINA TORI

Hello, my name is China Tori. I’m a writer and a filmmaker
and in honor of the mental health awareness month of May, I will like to share my perspective on Mental Health and Poetry.

Hear me, sometimes people will get busy and some other times, you may not be able to afford therapy, but the one thing you can always do is to write a poem. You can write a poem about anything and everything under the sun.

Because poetry is lenient, accommodating and very kind, it can take up any form and understands the language of any heart. So when things are going on in here and up there; things that plague us and beg for our attention – poetry avails us the opportunity to come face to face with them and deal with them as they should be dealt with.

Over the years, I have written poems when I fell in love, was depressed or recorded a small victory. I wrote when I needed to boost my self-confidence, say something to an absent person or had to deal with rejection.

I have experienced undescribable release in writing verses. I have found peace in reading other people’s poems and I have given hope by sharing mine. You know what they say about the heart? It knows and gets what it wants. Sometimes, all the heart wants is to vent – to cry, to curse or to just talk. And guess what? Poetry understands.

So the next time you feel like dealing with those guys our eyes can’t see, consider poetry. There is something soothing and very comforting about it; something that allows you to be vulnerable without fear of judgment.