A Mental Patients' Union
Two poems by Paige Murphy and a moment with Unica Zurn
Paige Murphy offers us two of their poems with an explainer, which we normally don’t publish, but this one is charming and about a trout, so we’ll make an exception.
“The title for the first poem refers to the image that is sort of the founding symbol of the (psychiatric survivor's movement) in the UK, a fish trapped on a hook. inspired by psychoanalyst Karl Menninger's analogy:
‘When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked on a line and finds himself unable to swim about freely, he begins a fight which results in struggles and splashes and sometimes escapes. Often, of course, the situation is too tough for him. In the same way, the human being struggles with his environment and with the hooks that catch him.’
The image was included on a manifesto published in the 1970s proposing a mental patients’ union. The other poem is inspired in small part by Unica Zurn (emo vibes here).”
If you you like what follows, you can get more of Paige and other poets at their Power and Pleasure in Poetry event at the ICA on April 13th, as part of the Decriminalised Futures exhibition, or read them in Salvage. RA.
fish on a hook
sticky detoxified organs
crystalline pink sugar fluff
legal insanity
cocoa butter
for posterity
handle-less door
for long life
no knickers
lamb heart
positive mental attitude
small steps to
clonzepam
jelly custard
complete loss
integral to structure
operation condor
it’s not as if
there were never
conspiracies
of unliveability
300 cameras
a day
as if they don’t
broad daylight
murder
with legal consensus
like
names dates
badge number
drinking
poison
infected
air
proves it
like
the perversion
of love
reason
kindness
british values
priorities
dropped
picked up
confused
born in the lost & found
stories
earlier heard
body touched
squirmed
the words for it
don’t stand up
in court
your dreams
may not be submitted
as evidence
consciousness graphs
only madness
made
sharpened
with
violent
vacant
intent
theres words
words
words for it
for some creatures
still exist
fangs
in language
demutilated
animated
hole
the verbs
equal
blunt
wield
wield them
at the head
that’s where you kill
seedbloodsilk I squat over the mirror to stare into my cunt at the sickness of my labour extended into my kidneys and the despair perfumes droplets I spill my drink on purpose so I’m not tempted to smash the glass no I didn't finish Vol. 1 either it’s getting so cold I think I’ll have another - Paige Murphy Further reading: Gary Indiana on Unica Zurn for Art in America.