Short Stay is a poetry collection Using rhyme and prose With a mental illness theme That shall inform and expose Representing the truly fragmented The melancholic and sad Each poem is composed by a woman Predominantly mad.

Step inside the locked doors of a psychiatric hospital, where every person has a story to tell. Short Stay is named for exactly what it is- a brief visit into the world of mental illness, seen through the eyes of someone who has been there. These poems introduce you to a cast of voices: the restless, the hopeful, the broken, and the ones still holding on. Some pieces are haunting, some tender, and all are honest.

Short Stay does not romanticize pain. It tells the truth- sometimes hard, sometimes beautiful, always human.

Trigger warning: contains themes of mental illness, self-harm, sexual assault, and suicide. Read with care, and take what you need from these pages.

A short stay in a psychiatric hospital can change you. This book might, too.