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Poetry

Gloria Creed-Dikeogu spent the best part of twenty years compiling three volumes of personal poems, while following various personal and educational pursuits in South Africa and the United States. Initially, the poems that were compiled in these volumes were only used on occasion for sharing with small groups of friends and were originally not written for publication. The sixty poems that were selected for inclusion in this work, from that original compilation, were chosen and reworked in the hope that they might be perused and enjoyed by all. Especially those who have experienced the joys of parenthood, the pressures and frustrations of learning to love in, live in and thrive in a new culture, to interact with loved-ones and with loss at a distance and to accept the complexities and complications that follow in the wake of assimilation.

Poet Jacob Barton has always and will always be bipolar but was diagnosed in April of 2012. Writing out the dreams and conversations he has while in a manic or depressed mood has taken the form of poetry. The poems in this collection were written through the ups and downs of Bipolar Disorder, and are a roadmap to Barton's life. By sharing his words with the world, Barton hopes he can help other people with mental disorders to unlock and release the thoughts that create a pain no one else can understand.