Poetry Of Evil: The Mental Health Poetry Podcast

Welcome to the Poetry of Evil: place where mental health intersects with poetry.

I’m your host and the author of these poems, Daniel Viragh.

I am so glad that you are joining us, from all around the world, on this beautiful evening in Vancouver.

Please visit poetryofevil.com for all of your evil poetic needs, including:
- transcripts of the poems
- ways to comment on the material, and submit your own material
- and (of course) our store.

Tonight, we will talk about the sparkle of the Divine, which exists even in the midst of all trauma. Often, when things are rough, all it takes is a single second of hope, in order to turn our lives around. And so the first poem is called “Everything Brings You,” and it’s about the hope that we find in the present moment.

Everything brings you,
towards this once instance of frailty
and conceit, amidst the hunger
and the pain.

The frozenness of simony shatters,
in that one significant instance of contact.
In that one mesmerizing second,
when two bodies meet,
are you able to keep your cool?

Can you simply just exist
and breathe and enjoy
the singular beauty,
when everything
you’ve wished for has been
provided?

It’s calling you home,
softly, gently,
like a crimson whisper
on an autumn day.

Come side with me.
Come be mine again.

The second poem is called “Foreword,” and it’s about committing to healing.

It’s imprudent to make any promises,
as a writer — even, maybe as a
human being. Who knows,
what winds will blow tomorrow.

And yet — in writing, as in love —
I think the only thing we can go by
is an unadulterated commitment to
serving the task at hand — be it
verbal, or metaphysical, or both.

For only when we approach writing
(as we do, love) from the perspective
of serving some higher power —
do we come close to transmitting,
that which is essential —
that which is, universal.

The next poem is called “Here, Where You Are Formed and Deformed,” and it’s about the divine sense of place, that comes with healing, and realizing where we truly are.

Here, when you are formed and deformed
in this emptiness and vastness, that is space:
here is when you were born and reborn
this is where you were birthed in grace.

Here is were the tide was swollen,
when the birds came to feast at dawn;
this is where the bridge was broken,
when the eagles and kestrels did spawn.

This is the twinkle in that filligrain that is time,
where the reticule of mercy met that mother of thine.
This is the moment of erstwhile grace:
this is the image of the human race.

And finally, here is a poem called “The God-Child” which celebrates the unadorned joy that exists in children, as well as the light within them.

The God-Child

There is so much beauty in this world. Magically, you only have to look at the ridges between people’s eyes to find the sweet spot of their affection. You but have to undo a single filament of their self-consciousness, to unlock the secrets within… to have them exchanging blessings with you and delighting in your presence. You but have to underline a single element of their eblouissance in order to grasp the God-child within their souls… Repeat after me, the mantra, the waves of resounding Ommm… The harmony that exists within you and me is there for our rejoicing; come sit in the crock of my elbow and celebrate the light within you and me.

Thank you so much for listening! It’s been a wonderful pleasure to share these poems with you.

This podcast is meant as a collaborative community, where people can comment on the poems, submit poems of their own, and share their own mental health journeys. So please visit us at poetryofevil.com. We take your privacy seriously, and this is a safe space for you to share.

Good night.