Psychiatric Drugs And Poetry

I have been taking psychiatric drugs since I was seventeen. For the last thirty years, I have been on a drug called Haldol. In 1995, I briefly switched doctors, because they wanted to try me on the more recent drug called Risperdal. I immediately had a breakdown and wound up in the hospital.
While there, I wrote a book called The Sink Of Main. It was written on Risperdal mind.
For a few years before that, I had been writing poetry on Haldol mind.
After I got out of the hospital, I went back to Haldol and wrote many books for many years on Haldol mind.
Here are three examples of my poetry from that time.

The Heart Of Lake Orion     (from I Met A Warrior In A Children's Park, my second book)

I am sitting on a stone
by a lake with a waterfall.

The lake is encircled with rocks.
The waterfall is humming.

I have a thought
that this is the heart

of Lake Orion. A sign
is by the road, south

of the town which says,
where Life Is A Vacation.


That poem was written on Haldol mind, in 1994


The next poem was written on Risperdal mind, while in the hospital in 1995

What Is Taste?

Taste is in
your mouth.

There is no
honey in my
you ad.

Because it
actually is

A you ad
bag to drink.

Your music
is good because

it strikes
me funny.


This last poem was written on Haldol mind, in 2009

What I Did Before This

Waking up at midnight
I drink morning coffee
and proceed to practice
sets of exercises
one after another
for no reason
except health
and wisdom.


I am not writing this to condemn the use of psychiatric drugs, but only to show that we have no real fixed self. One strange chemical in our body is enough to cause a change as drastic as this one. I am still taking Haldol, but a small dose.