Between The Stars

By Lindokuhle Mathenjwa

This collection of poetry focuses on the underlying mental health issues that society avoids. It is presented as the voice of your thoughts and a guide on how to deal with mental health issues especially anxiety, trauma, as well as depression. At some point in our lives, we are all prone to suffering from some sort of acute mental illness, whether it be for a short or prolonged period, leaving it unaddressed and casually carrying on with our daily lives has become the norm. This may lead to much more intense symptoms and eventually provoke one to take their own life or harm oneself in any other way to feel some sort of relief or simply to feel. The poems in this book focus a lot on how individuals may feel during a depressive or traumatic phase in their lives or when they feel they have reached the pinnacle point in their lives. Our pursuit of success is met by so many obstacles and we often forget to breathe and appreciate how far we have come and where we are going. Social media and life, in general, tend to put an immense amount of pressure on us to be perfect. Each poem is meant to remind the reader that their existence is felt in the universe, we are perfectly imperfect humans and though there are 7 billion of us on this planet, each of us plays a role in the existence of life itself. Each poem is written in the simplest way I feel was possible to fit the themes and to reach out to people who especially have a stereotype around poetry being complicated and only read by people who understand the dynamics of poetry. Everyone - young or old that can read should be able to read each piece easily without having to think too hard about what each poem or line or stanza may mean, but to instantly feel connected regardless of their background, upbringing, and current circumstance in life. Various themes such as tragedy, love, loss, and healing are constantly repeated throughout the book. Every chapter is named after the birth process of a star, symbolising the potential of rebirth in the way one perceives life and mental health while reading the book. Each piece serves as a reminder to the reader that they do matter, their thoughts and fears are valid, that they are certainly not alone and that there are ways to combat the feelings and thoughts by reading and confronting emotions through poetry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Classic age Publishing
• Release date: May 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798761235236

Book preview

PREFACE

Sometimes it takes tragic things to happen for us to realise what we have is beyond precious. People will never forget how you made them feel, said the great poet, Maya Angelo. This quote was amongst my dad’s favourites before he passed away in April 2019. I had already started writing poetry a year before and he had realised that the apple did not fall far from the tree. His dream was to publish a book featuring both our pieces. Unfortunately, he could not fulfil this. That’s why I took it upon myself to make his dream come true and better yet share it with you.

This collection of poems focuses on the underlying mental health issues that society avoids. It’s the voice of your thoughts. At some point in our lives, we are likely to suffer from some kind of mental health issue and leaving that unaddressed may lead to much worse issues like depression, anxiety disorder and addiction. This book should help give the reader a better understanding of what might be going on in the mind of an individual with mental health

issues. Better yet, you’ll understand that you are indeed not alone and that this world is as scary to you, as it is to everybody else. Some just have a better way of hiding it.

Foreword By

Kefilwe Mabote

There’s a particular phrase that has been resonating with me in this season of my life: With age, comes wisdom.

It took a lot of trial and error to get here. Naturally, life puts us through challenging situations, but it is in this place that life also demands we tap into a kind of endurance that is only revealed through obstacles.

I have been in the public eye as a Digital Creator for over ten years now, and while I’ve enjoyed immense success and support from my community, I’ve also had my share of challenges. As a public figure, scrutiny from the media is a norm and operating on digital platforms only makes you susceptible to the opinions and commen- taries of anyone who has access to these channels. Hearsay can lead to defamation of character which could further impact collaboration with brands who solely rely on this form of information for their decision-making process. Building a brand that is an extension of one’s life leaves very little room for mistakes and often you’re not perceived as a human who is inherently flawed.

Reading Between The Stars, I was reminded of three things:

How we feel matters

We’re not alone

A great assurance