We're not real anyways - by Maddie Mitchell (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

we're not real anyways explores mental health struggles, highs, lows, LGBTQ+ love, and heartbreak. These poems contain the struggles of dealing with many mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, OCD, BPD, PTSD, and anorexia nervosa. The collection was written during the author's time at a residential eating disorder recovery facility, while participating in the step-down programs.

she tried to disappear, so he could finally be happy.

she wanted to fade away until a girl asked her to stay.

maybe she won't always hate herself.

"...an emotionally searing, impressively crafted sequence that intertwines its statement of truth with an ongoing search for hope. It is the work of a talented young poet whose voice is haunting, inspiring and indelible."

-Barbara Burch, PhD, Professor of English, Georgetown College

"Right from the title, Maddie Mitchell plays with the reader's doubts of reality and invites us into her mindset and into her personal experiences, that are easily translated to the universal...The unfiltered abandon that Mitchell is able to confess in each poem for us is admirable."

-Rebecca Smolen, author of Excoriation, Gateless Method facilitator

Review Quotes

Early Praise:

Maddie Mitchell's book is a clarion call from the war zone of anorectic suffering. Her poems unveil and call to account the forces and indignities that imperil young women by pressuring them to be perfect and small. This is an emotionally searing, impressively crafted sequence that intertwines its statement of truth with an ongoing search for hope. It is the work of a talented young poet whose voice is haunting, inspiring and indelible. -Barbara Burch, PhD, Professor of English, Georgetown College

Right from the title, Maddie Mitchell plays with the reader's doubts of reality and invites us into her mindset and into her personal experiences that are easily translated to the universal by happenings that have let her down, that let us down as we yearn throughout life for approval and acceptance. Within these intensely feminine and young experiences there is also such love amid Mitchell's words. With the intense title of, "to all the boys who pulled a gun on me," and with those initial words of that piece, i love you, it shows that Mitchell understands it is not just her that yearns for this love. These poems hold such an innocent intelligence and would be an incredible gift to read for young people, people struggling, and especially for those that don't seem to be struggling as well. If young people were encouraged to read such common and powerful feelings, it might make a positive difference within themselves. What these poems reveal is how we should shed more light and place more emphasis on young mental health and stop condemning people from certain thoughts and emotions. We should be listening and opening our arms in acceptance. In the poem "ww3," she labels the feeling of enough as only found in Dr. Seuss books. There is not an in-between anymore; it's either good or not good enough. The unfiltered abandon that Mitchell is able to confess in each poem for us is admirable. -Rebecca Smolen, author of Excoriation, Gateless Method facilitator