Thank you life,
Work got me stressed,
But I chugged my confidence,
31 and seen more than most,
Bustling Chongqing imprints me,
Shanxi is where love was met,
A Henan hospital gave a daughter,
Far from my cornfield Midwest,
I always seem to be moving,
Hospitalization and suicide attempts,
I still appreciate it all and more,
Mania got me jumping on planes,
Long journeys on trains,
Love the smells and sights,
My palate is open to new,
Thank you bipolar,
Such a burden and killer,
But I have not died yet,
And I am too grandiose now,
I love my life and my broken mind,
The spontaneity gave me all,
A family blossomed from disease.
Raymond Hoffman has a background in political science and Southeast Asian Studies. He has taught in China for many years and currently is a fifth grade teacher in the Midwest. Poetry writing has been used by him as a coping mechanism for bipolar disorder for over a decade now. Sylvia Plath has always been a great source of inspiration, as has been Albert Camus.