As Catalina has shared, she has recently battled depression. It was something that crept up on us. When it hit, we scrambled to figure out how to combat it and what it all meant. It was certainly unnerving for Catalina, but it was also unnerving for me. Catalina seemed to be a different person. I wrote "Moonstruck" as my way of trying to understand her. I took her descriptions of her feelings and actions along with my observations and put it into a poem. I asked Catalina if she felt it was an accurate portrayal, and she said it was. I'm sure everyone's experience with depression is different, but this is my take on it.
In the poem, I describe how depression changes people and their perspectives. It is a deep darkness that overwhelms, though at times there are glimmers of light. But I equate these glimmers of light with moon light. While moonlight may be beautiful at times, it is a relatively worthless thing. It doesn’t warm you, like the sun. It doesn’t provide you with enough guidance to prevent you from stumbling, like the sun. And while moonlight beams down all of this teasing light that reminds you of the warmth and guidance you don’t have, it is just what the predators need to hunt you as they stalk under the cover of darkness. Your fears and your demons hunt best by cover of moonlight, and any shimmering hope that exists seems to slip further and further away. That is depression. This is “Moonstruck.”
In the poem, I describe how depression changes people and their perspectives. It is a deep darkness that overwhelms, though at times there are glimmers of light. But I equate these glimmers of light with moon light. While moonlight may be beautiful at times, it is a relatively worthless thing. It doesn’t warm you, like the sun. It doesn’t provide you with enough guidance to prevent you from stumbling, like the sun. And while moonlight beams down all of this teasing light that reminds you of the warmth and guidance you don’t have, it is just what the predators need to hunt you as they stalk under the cover of darkness. Your fears and your demons hunt best by cover of moonlight, and any shimmering hope that exists seems to slip further and further away. That is depression. This is “Moonstruck.”
| moonstruck.pdf |
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