Let me meander with your mind awhile my child,

celebrate this time, this time.

Here to stay your sun to shine,

with me and mine a sweet surprise.

All your colours call to me,

fascinating my realities,

instilling scenes within the scenes,

‘cause all we’re left we dream unseen.

Quietly unlock my doors,

and answer what we see inside.

Your silent roar beside me now

like mountain-tops within my mind,

Meandering……

 

Peter collects a handmade hardback book

He will be presented with this at the House of Lords on the 1st May 2013

 

Congratulations from all of us at !!

 

His work will feature in The Yellow Book going nationwide

 

Selected Poetry Entries for The Yellow Book please click the titles to view:

 

 

1. I Feel Life – Ella Zellaby – Rochester Kent
2. This World – Stephanie Rose – Bo’ness Scotland
3. Lift Your Voice – David Holloway – Bedford
4. Mirror – Saiqa Parveen – Halifax
5. With Good Mental Health – Anne Broadbent – West Yorkshire
6. Meadering – Peter McGrath – Essex
7. Senses – Jade Tullet – Berkshire
8. The Wren – Ian Curtress – Cheltenham
9. Recovery – Lesley Burt – Dorset
10. A Home in my Head – Karen Mason – Surrey
11. Freedom is Ours – Gemma Rose – East Sussex
12. Beauty – Debee Ebeneezer – Nottingham
13. It is Ok – Suzanne Bate – Liverpool
14. Happiness is Gratitude – Lisa Barry – Rhondda Cynon Taft
15. I’ve Changed – Louise Gillett – Christchurch Dorset
16. Sunny Side Up – Karim Harvey – London
17. Proud to be me – Denise Claxton – Essex
18. Daylight after Rain – John Campbell – London
19. I Can See The Colour and I Can Feel The Sun – Elizabeth Aldous – Luton
20. Free To Be Me – Diana Hayes – Abergavenny
21. Bus Journey – Safoora Masood – Halifax
22. There Once Was a Young Girl From Wales – Katy Young – Flintshire
23. See the Flowers Beneath Your Feet – Anonymous
24. I Know – Kauser Parveen – Halifax

 

Congratulations from all of us at !!

 

With good mental health
I have purpose and direction
decentment
good concentration
my needs are met
nourishment and affection
aroof over my head
Companionship, home
mental stimulation
&  I’m working towards
an even better
Future, honourable employment
yes a goodjob now
AND not incarceration

With positive mental health, I don’t depend on slogans and ‘prescriptions, ‘

Or let myself be limited by negative projections and descriptions.

With positive mental health, I can show my ability and my vulnerability,

I can become more fully human, knowing that ‘joy and woe are woven fine.’

I can learn that patient waiting and creative reflection are just as important

as immediate success and constant striving.

I can devote myself to ‘living’ instead of just surviving.

 

POETRY AND TIME

 

Poetry can reveal

Depth in time,

The co-existence

Of past, present and future,

The moment of unity

And wholeness of Being.

Such poems are a celebration

Of the dance of creation.

Given fleeting form in the speaking,

They slip away into the night,

Defying immediate analysis

In favour of relationship –

Revealing hidden connections.

Old familiar words take on

New form and resonance,

Like old familiar rocks

That erode and blow as

Shifting sand into the desert.

Poetry is the time-lapse

Photography of the soul,

It relates the fragment

To the Whole

 

Tony Devaney

 

With Good Mental Health I have space and slience, space to speak my truth:

 

 

My mind, now ordered in a common form,

I savour, simplified, a life mundane

Of clarity, perceived within the norm-

A fitness, fitting here, within the frame.

Observing pattern in the common race

I grasp, with gentle hand, its fractal light-

Not forcing, easing gently to my place,

I find myself at home with calm delight.

This early, springtime lightfall dearly won,

Illuminates a placement safe within,

As young leaves, budding in the morning sun

A place among the branching patterns win.

I would such freshness, as I here have found,

Could be forever held in mind, now sound.

 

 

I’ve Changed

(A song on the theme: ‘With good mental health, I have’)

 

I’ve changed

Again

I’ve come in out of the rain

And I feel fine

Again

 

I was lonely, I was sad

Did not consider that I could

Evade the pain

But now I’ve changed again

And I am glad

 

I’m here

Again

I’ve understood that life is good

Again

I’m learning to appreciate again

And it’s not bad

 

There’s hope

Again

I’m learning to communicate again

And it’s all good

 

Sing my refrain…

 

I’ve changed

Again

And it’s all good again

I’m learning to appreciate…

 

I’m glad

 

Oh yes, I’m glad again.

 

 

 

Louise collects a handmade hardback book

She will be presented with this at the House of Lords on the 1st May 2013

 

Congratulations from all of us at !!

 

Her work will feature in The Yellow Book going nationwide

 

Selected Poetry Entries for The Yellow Book please click the titles to view:

 

 

1. I Feel Life – Ella Zellaby – Rochester Kent
2. This World – Stephanie Rose – Bo’ness Scotland
3. Lift Your Voice – David Holloway – Bedford
4. Mirror – Saiqa Parveen – Halifax
5. With Good Mental Health – Anne Broadbent – West Yorkshire
6. Meadering – Peter McGrath – Essex
7. Senses – Jade Tullet – Berkshire
8. The Wren – Ian Curtress – Cheltenham
9. Recovery – Lesley Burt – Dorset
10. A Home in my Head – Karen Mason – Surrey
11. Freedom is Ours – Gemma Rose – East Sussex
12. Beauty – Debee Ebeneezer – Nottingham
13. It is Ok – Suzanne Bate – Liverpool
14. Happiness is Gratitude – Lisa Barry – Rhondda Cynon Taft
15. I’ve Changed – Louise Gillett – Christchurch Dorset
16. Sunny Side Up – Karim Harvey – London
17. Proud to be me – Denise Claxton – Essex
18. Daylight after Rain – John Campbell – London
19. I Can See The Colour and I Can Feel The Sun – Elizabeth Aldous – Luton
20. Free To Be Me – Diana Hayes – Abergavenny
21. Bus Journey – Safoora Masood – Halifax
22. There Once Was a Young Girl From Wales – Katy Young – Flintshire
23. See the Flowers Beneath Your Feet – Anonymous
24. I Know – Kauser Parveen – Halifax

 

Congratulations from all of us at !!

 

With good mental health,

I see the light

I look all around

And all is bright.

 

With good mental health,

I feel fit and ready

I can go out and be active

Work keeps me steady.

 

With good mental health,

I show my love

I can express to others

All I’ve been thinking of.

 

With good mental health,

I seize the day

I look all around me

And everything’s okay.

MOVING ON, SINGING A SONG.

 

She read one of her poems on TV.

 

For all the world to hear and see.

 

She also spoke softly of all her pain,

 

To show all the world what she had gained.

 

To the magazines she told her story,

 

To show the world, the before, the after, then the glory.

 

On the radio she told what it was like,

 

She told the world while she held the mike.

 

For ten whole years she answered letters from far and near,

 

From others who also had the fear.

 

Then one day she just gave it all up, and said no more.

 

AGORAPHOBIA, you won’t come back to my door,

 

It’s time to put you in the past where you belong.

 

While she goes off to sing a song,

 

At little Ps, the Methodists or J.A.M.

 

Singing nursery rhymes, just being NAN,

 

And maybe in her spare time,

 

She will still write the occasional rhyme.

I pray to god night and day

To guild me the right way

The strength I need to be-

Strong and believe in myself

To have good positive mental health

To be happy and joyful within

To live a life with out any sin

But sometimes he can be forgotten

When I’ve hit rock bottom

My life has had its ups and downs

But with good mental health-

I’ve turned my life around

I’ve travelled though depths of hell

I wonder if you can even tell

Because theses days my mental health is stable

And now I’m able- to stand up tall

What was once big is now small

No matter what life brings me now

I can face it some how

No bad voices harming me

Living life without worry

Quite happy and freely

With good mental health-

I can face each day with glee!

 

Queen bees quiver, skylarks sing,

Slowworms slither, cowbells ring,

Babies gurgle, children laugh

At the first made bleat of a precious calf.

With good mental health I hear

Spring’s vibrations in my ear.

 

Greenfly graze and locusts leap,

Lizards laze, spiders creep,

Bunnies lollop, farmhands banter,

March hares hop and ponies canter

In wildflower fields where monkey orchids grow,

The faithful wind their seeds did sow.

With good mental health I see

Boundless blessings life has given me.

 

The breeze blows, sun radiates,

Upon the lake a water boatman skates.

A hungry otter licks his lips

As a fantail darter flips,

A heron scales overhead,

Trepidly the terrapins tread.

With good mental health I have found

Life breaking through the ground.

 

Snow melts and freezes thaw,

Raw wounds heal and hurt no more.

Dark clouds eventually give way to sun,

Through new eyes downpours can be fun.

With good mental health I know

Through the tough times I will grow.

 

Over mountains and valleys I climb,

Discovering beauty so sublime,

Running fast and breaking free

From incessant worries that were haunting me.

Feeling that fortuitous state of flow,

Moving forward, on I go.

With good mental health I find

A healthy body and sound mind.

 

A squall erupts and thunder rumbles by,

Lightening illuminates the sky.

The heavens open, puddles form,

Peacocks parade a rain dance on the lawn.

Water worms wiggle in the streams,

Out of frogspawn new life teams.

Sanderlings saunter, crows caw,

On the thermals seagulls soar.

With good mental health I lift my eyes

Marvelling at majestic ever changing skies.