The Black, The White, and The Grey
A journey through depression, with a light at the end of the tunnel
by J.M. Taylor

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Are you proud of where you come from, Are you proud of what you’ve done? Do you linger alone, living in your past, Or are you proud of how far you’ve come? (“Proud,” p. 123) For some of us, life is not easy, right from the jump. What seems so natural and easy to others can become hard—hard as ice, stifling as quicksand—when our own minds seem to plague us. Perhaps it’s because of something we haven’t been able to process—some trauma, heartbreak, grief. Or perhaps life has never been easy to metabolize—dealing with the pain we inevitably must face. Striking, forceful, and animated by intense feeling, The Black, the White, and the Grey is a tripartite poetic journey through mental illness—from the black of depression to the white of manic euphoria, through the grey numbness that lies between. The poems speak to difficult feelings many of us encounter, but which are rarely given voice, from the despair of addiction to the suffocating pain of a loved one’s death. For those of us who do identify with mental illness, we may see ourselves especially reflected in first-time author Taylor’s dauntlessly honest poems, which speak to the darkest corners of human experience—heartbreak, grief, substance abuse, self-harm, addiction, suicide—as well as the love and faith that can (sometimes) manage to carry us through. Ultimately, though, no matter the weight we must bear, as the book’s final section, the white, affirms, there is hope and healing at the end of the tunnel we travel.

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Himself no stranger to mental illness, poet, writer, and first-time author Jack M. Taylor has struggled with depression since he was thirteen. He wrote this, his first poetry collection, with one goal in mind: to help people—even just one person—struggling with their mental health. Outside of writing, Jack works as a landscape manager for a plant healthcare company. He has a diploma in forestry from Sault College, and enjoys reading and hiking in his spare time. He lives with his long-term girlfriend and their two cats in Collingwood, Ontario. Interested in getting in touch? You can reach Jack at @j.m_taylor on Instagram.

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Contributors

Author

J.M. Taylor

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