How writing helps in curing depression

Me, I started writing when I was in grade 6. I had so many troubles at home, that I always needed a way out, always looking for a way to escape the horrible tapestries on my bedroom wall and all the things around it. I wanted to change, yet I wanted to stay inside my comfort zone. My parents got divorced when I was a kid, I hated living in a house where you would listen to screams at 3 a.m. in the morning all the way to 7 a.m. in the beginning, it was just me writing concise sentences at the back of my school notebooks and it gradually turned into getting a spare notebook and keeping it with me at all times.

I later found out that there are things called diaries with beautiful covers that you can use to write in, all your thoughts, complaints about the things you don’t have and whining about the things you do have. I asked my mom, who happens to write in Urdu, to buy me one and she did next month. I started writing anything and everything about my life, my thoughts and my life at school and with the relatives at home in that little diary. I’ve been keeping a journal ever since. I have 15 diaries at the moment, and I just turned 26. I intend to get another one soon.

I’ve been fighting depression for as long as I can remember. I started getting migraines when I was 18 and till now, I feel like half of my productivity and creativity died because of the constant pain and agony. My writing habit is what helped me cope with it. I used to worry about the most trivial of things and now, I feel more in control of my life. I compiled all that I have written in a poetic manner and published my first book by the name ‘Psychaotic’. The reason why I’m telling you this is because it was something that I could call my own, something that made me feel like all my diaries are in the book and I can read and learn through my own experiences. I helped countless people fighting depression and bipolar disorder through that. Maybe you can too. Writing isn’t easy. Sometimes the words flow through you, sometimes, they break your back with pain. But when they do come, you can see what you wrote and you can feel it. You can find it in your heart that you need to forgive yourself and know that whatever happened isn’t your fault. The World works in strange ways. You just need to be able to understand and see where it takes you.

Today, when I write, after all that time, I feel a tingle in my hands that tells me that I need to take out my journal and my black pen. I write, for myself and for the people who will read it ages later and I pray and I hope that it makes them feel better. Somehow, someday. If you are fighting depression, I assure you that keeping a journal will make you feel better. You will be able to look at what you’ve been through and make yourself stronger and better. You’ll be able to fight distress and anxiety. I bet those panic and anxiety attacks keep you up at night. That’s okay. I have them too. More often than you think. But my writing habit helps, it really does. You should get a diary too, write the littlest of things that bother you and cram them up in your writing. You’ll feel the difference in your mood, your anxiety and your depression after that.

There is no keeping it inside. You have to channelize it. Best thing is to pour it out on paper. It will change your life, as it changed mine.

'Sitaron K Darmian' Collaboration and The Future of Street Children

Sadequain Art Society has launched the first phase of its project “Sitaron K Darmiyan”. This is an educational project which is based on street children’s education and those children which belong to underprivileged families that cannot afford the educational expenses of their children and let them work and earn for the survival of their families. The main focus of this project is to teach drawing techniques and make a skillful environment for our future generations.

In the first phase of project team of Sadequain Art Society along with many youth organizations and university students visited Master Ayyub School yesterday. Master Ayyub School is an open air school which is situated in F-6 Sector of Islamabad where Master Ayyub is teaching those street children for decades. Sadequain Art Society has provided the stationary to the students and team of Senior Artists like Younis Roomi(General Secretory Sadequain Art Society) and Asrar Farooqi(Freelance Artist) have delivered a workshop on basics of Drawing Techniques. This training included skills of writing and drawing in which children have shown great interest.

Many healthy activities like poems telling and singing National Songs like Dil Dil Pakistan was also part of this project. Team of Sadequain Art Society has engaged children in many extra-curricular activities as well asked them many questions about their homeland Pakistan. And at the end, all the children were provided with chocolates and juices to make them motivated towards education.

Founder of Sadequain Art Society Syed Hassaan Ali Shah concluded the session with his remarks and told that this “Sitaron K Darmiyan” is an ongoing project which will be continued and our mission is very clear outcomes of which will be seen in society very soon. Our objective of bringing change through education will be fulfilled very soon. Today we have just started this project and in future, we might be targeting any other place within the country. After the end of the workshop on drawing techniques, we will evaluate the work of children and then will focus on those children which are showing good interest in the field of drawing and designing. He added that our team belongs to young and dynamic youth like Usman Khalid, Kashif Ullah, Syed Maryah, Shoaib Malick and Haris Mustafa, and Nida Yousaf which have great potential and working hard for the promotion of Art, Culture, and Education.

Master Ayyub was thankful to team Sadequain Art Society and has said in his remarks that this type of initiatives make me more motivated towards the betterment of Pakistan and bring change through education.

Many organizations like Dil Say Pakistan, Hamaray Log, Chal Chalen, Beyond Sanity Publishing and Acts of Kindness came in to support “Sitaron K Darmiyan”. Many University Students belonging International Islamic University, Islamabad, National University of Science and Technology and Bahria University also contributed to the project.

Mushaihid Shah our grooming star and Gold Medalist in rock climbing also supported and joined the first phase of project “Sitaron K Darmiyan”

You can find the event details here.

John Lennon’s ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’; Piano, Bob Dylan Lyric Sheets Head to Auction

John Lennon's Sgt. Peppers era home piano, used by the Beatles legend to compose "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "A Day in the Life," among others, is set to hit the auction block December 10th as the marquee item in Sotheby's "A Rock & Roll Anthology: From Folk to Fury."

The red-and-black John Broadwood and Sons cottage upright piano, which was housed in Lennon's Kenwood home when he was writing songs for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, is estimated to sell for between $1.2 and $1.8 million; Lennon's "Imagine" piano, featured on the 1970 classic, sold at auction for $2.1 million in 2000.

Lennon's Sgt. Pepper's piano comes with a plaque, installed by Lennon in 1971, denoting that the instrument was used to pen "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," "A Day in the Life," "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" and "Good Morning Good Morning."

Courtesy of Sothebys

 The "From Folk to Fury" auction also includes unique Bob Dylan items like the singer's autographed final manuscript for "Blowin' in the Wind," featuring Dylan's handwritten corrections and signature "Bob Dylan 1962."

Four handwritten versions of Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" are known to exist; the one hitting the block at Sotheby's, estimated to sell for between $300,000 and $500,000, is the July 1962 version used by Dylan to record The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan track.

Dylan and the Band's Rick Danko's typed manuscript for "This Wheel's on Fire," with handwritten edits presumably by Danko, will also hit the auction block with a $60,000 estimate. Sketches that Dylan drew of Joan Baez, as well as sketches Baez made of Dylan, are also available at the auction.

Courtesy of Sothebys

Other notable items include the Eagles' original, handwritten manuscript for "Hotel California," featuring lyrics penned by both Don Henley and Glenn Frey and estimated to sell for between $500,000 and $700,000.

Original paintings by David Bowie, a cache of Lou Reed's Velvet Underground lyrics, Jim Morrison's 1971 handwritten notebook, John Lennon's Help! jacket and Johnny Rotten's lyrics for the Sex Pistols' "Problems," penned on Malcolm McLaren's office stationary, will also be auctioned off.

Read the original article here on Yahoo Music

Learning to live in Peace-One step at a time

Peace is proving to be one of the most endangered elements on our dear planet these days.
Why? Because instead of tolerance and patience, we are choosing to fight, ignore and blame each other.
Every day more of us become victims of extremism and violence. 

Peace, something the whole word is craving for at the moment. In a world like this, where seasons go by, loved one's bid farewell and the innocent blood goes worthless- we need a break. To be more precise, we owe a lot to this world. Yet, we sit back and let it deteriorate gradually. Why?

Indifference is productive as long as things are not under one's control but, when they are, why don't we contribute some part?

This world is heading towards an unfathomable end. The earth weeps each day when a drop of innocent blood hits the ground. The Mother Nature- the trees, herbs, and shrubs, the mountains and seas; complain mankind for each wound Humans inflict upon them.

Pakistan is a third world country. Incompetent in a lot of areas, but illiteracy itself is not the factor behind it. Terrorism is at its peak in Pakistan. People have even forgotten what peace is like? In fact, we hardly remember when was the last time we witnessed peace in our country.

The one thing every culture, every artist, every tradition, every musician, every nation promotes is Peace. This world needs to focus on the significance of tolerance and peace because that is what transforms our decisions in the real world. We step according to the political stability, economic stability, finances etc. but most of all, if we see ourselves surrounded by components that invoke extremism or terror rather than peace and harmony, we are reluctant to take any decision. 

Unfortunately, it is not just about Pakistan but all other countries around the globe where roots of barbarism are spreading deeper and deeper. In this situation, at least we, the youth of Pakistan, need to pull in the reins and start working towards eliminating violence as much as possible. Be it through writing, workshops, processions or social media promotion. In a nutshell, peace has to prevail and the opposite has to be annihilated.

We are not perfect, we rely on our perceptions and studies to determine how we 'SHOULD' act, or how we CAN bring peace when what we really should be doing is looking at ourselves and how we can change our surroundings by changing OURSELVES. 

'Gnothi Seauton'

(Greek) 'Know Thyself'

Article by Beyond Sanity Publishing for Peace Without Borders

2016 Nobel Prize In Literature Awarded To Bob Dylan

 

STOCKHOLM, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Bob Dylan, regarded as the voice of a generation for his influential songs from the 1960s onwards, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature in a surprise decision that made him the only singer-songwriter to win the award.

The 75-year-old Dylan - who won the prize for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition” - now finds himself in the company of Winston Churchill, Thomas Mann and Rudyard Kipling as Nobel laureates.

The announcement was met with gasps in Stockholm’s stately Royal Academy hall, followed - unusually - by some laughter.

Dylan’s songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and “Like a Rolling Stone” captured a spirit of rebellion, dissent and independence.

More than 50 years on, Dylan is still writing songs and is often on tour, performing his dense poetic lyrics, sung in a sometimes rasping voice that has been ridiculed by detractors.

Some lyrics have resonated for decades.

“Blowin’ in the Wind,” written in 1962, was considered one of the most eloquent folk songs of all time. “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” in which Dylan told Americans “your sons and your daughters are beyond your command,” was an anthem of the civil rights movement and Vietnam War protests.

Awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($930,000) prize, the Swedish Academy said: “Dylan has the status of an icon. His influence on contemporary music is profound.”

Swedish Academy member Per Wastberg said: “He is probably the greatest living poet.”

Asked if he thought Dylan’s Nobel lecture - traditionally given by the laureate in Stockholm later in the year - would be a concert, replied: “Let’s hope so.”

Over the years, not everyone has agreed that Dylan was a poet of the first order. Novelist Norman Mailer countered: “If Dylan’s a poet, I’m a basketball player.”

Sara Danius, Permanent Secretary of the Nobel Academy, told a news conference there was “great unity” in the panel’s decision to give Dylan the prize.

Dylan has always been an enigmatic figure. He went into seclusion for months after a motorcycle crash in 1966, leading to stories that he had cracked under the pressure of his new celebrity.

He was born into a Jewish family but in the late 1970s converted to born-again Christianity and later said he followed no organized religion. At another point in his life, Dylan took up boxing.

Dylan’s spokesman, Elliott Mintz, declined immediate comment when reached by phone, citing the early hour in Los Angeles, where it was 3 a.m. at the time of the announcement. Dylan was due to give a concert in Las Vegas on Thursday evening.

Literature was the last of this year’s Nobel prizes to be awarded. The prize is named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will. 

Article by The Huffington Post. Read it Here

I thought I was Time

Time.
Don't we all loathe what it can turn into?
We curse the times we were sad,
we cry over wasted time,
Regret untimely decisions,
hate ourselves getting old and made of wrinkeled skin and bad eye sight,
Hate that time makes us choose things we don't want for ourselves.
We hate the change time brings because we love our familiar little hut of wishes and ifs and would bes and what ifs.
We don't forget, we don't forgive, we don't move on and we don't want to.
We want to live the way we see fit and the way our heart lept into the heights of proud and happiness rather than sadness and adjustments.
We crave the life we had and we hate how time changed it all.
Why time?
Why do you change?
Why does it feel like you hate us?
All the clocks in the world pause for a second and we would consider it the end of the world and civilization.
Are you kidding me?
Do you even believe in civilization?
Stupid, haha. What is human?
A clock? Born when the seconds hand starts moving. Seconds turn into minutes and minutes turn into hours and the damn clock just keeps moving when we want it to hold itself because we want to see the moon more than the sun and the clouds more than the sky and thunder rather than clear skies.
We want to see ourselves cycling and playing and coloring books and eating almost melt icecream because these things matter to us.
Why do you steal all these things away? From us.
From us all.
We are all unusual, fragile and empty. But we are architects too.
We build our little cottage of bucket lists and comfort spots and you make the walls rust and crumble.
Is it just me?
I don't know. Maybe.
Maybe not.
Maybe I want more. Maybe I want it all.
Maybe I want all time to be in the palm of my hand.
Or maybe I just want my time back.
I want to be myself again.
We all want ourselves in the mirror not some deranged fantasy of a human mind.
We want to live.
Our faces don't shine, dear time.
Our eyes don't sparkle. The butterflies are dead.
And all the plants in my wish garden too.
Why did you take all these things away?
I thought I was Timeless.
Clocks, time and regrets, #Invictus #IrumZahra #BeyondSanityPublishing
#igreads #bookstagram #bookstagrampak #books

Life and other disasters-Invictus

More than often you are surrounded by the puzzling questions of life and it's substitutes.
Love, drugs, music, travelling, books, photography, Cooking and so many others.
You call them interests when you start them and when you start replacing the uninteresting and somewhat annoying and even the most hated of things with these interests, they travel through time and space to create a new door for you.
A door to escape
A door to feel yourself through the eyes of your interests.
That is exactly when these doors become the substitutes for life.
You forget living through life itself and you begin living through them.
Everytime you feel blue and you think the world will end, you go through these doors and feel alive.
Ironic.
Life loves us and we love these doors more than we love life.
Why?
I don't know.
Do you?
No.
Because whatever you say or think will be an excuse. A reason.
You will start defending your wild and free heart.
Sighs.
Heart is such a kid. It is more than a 100 years old old man and a 5 year old kid on a swing at the same time.
He loves these doors and he makes sure you believe that you don't and you won't live without these things.
Where would you go if not these doors?
Will you be lost?
Or found?
Accept it. You'll always choose these doors over everything.
Question is, for how long till it locks you out and leave you with no keys?
What would you do then?

Life and other disasters, #Invictus

Unnamed Named-Invictus

Its brutally insane of you think that tears matter to people who live more pretend lives than you do.
You change your clothes, the way you speak, the way you treat people, the food you eat, the places you go.
But you would never be able to hide your nature.
This is what makes us relate to animals.
Our nature Will never change.
We might be nice to everyone. We might tell you we love you more than the oceans and the trenches in the oceans but, what we don't tell, is is a whole story-line of our wicked, selfish, stubborn nature.
Tears? Really?
Are you for real?
Are those even real?
Please. You always cry for something other than you are upset about. Your head is exploding with anger and frustration about how the universe throws you around like a freaking football and you start crying because you see a dead word? A dead flower?
Spilled ink?
Faded cut marks?
No. You just need an excuse to take the salt in your eyes out.
Who could really blame you?
You made yourself like this.
You, yourself is to blame.
Idiot.
When people matter more than nature, (They never do) you carry on as nothing happened. When inside your brain lobes you curse your every breath, regret every moment and yell at all pieces of burned memories.
Stupid heart.
The sheer force of royal blues hit you in your wings like that ice cold wind on the mountains.
Screw tears.
They don't matter.

-Invictus, Irum Zahra

*Copyrighted Material*

Invictus By Irum Zahra

 

Every sunset defines a story. Every cloud blurs and dies tells a way of life. It shows us how unusual life is. How unpredictable reality is. And exactly how stubborn we are to its changes.

It shows us how we keep thinking that sunset is the same when it isn't and it is actually screaming at us. Yelling that another day has passed and we haven't lived. We haven't loved and we haven't dreamt.

If we have, then not enough.

Sunsets and Other Regrets, Invictus
Copyright@ 2015 Irum Zahra

Mirrored Voices: Best Contemporary Poets

I'm very Happy and Honored to announce that the third installment of the Poetry Anthology Series, ‪‎Mirrored Voices:

Mirrored Voices: Best Contemporary Poets

‬ is Published! It has writers and Poets featured from around the globe.
I am lucky and honored to be in it as well.
I have 4 books on my credit now. Congratulations to all the authors who are featured in this literary history making event.

This combined poetic anthology embraces free thinking of the untapped mind and spirit. The vast array of best contemporary poets from around the globe share their voices together in harmony. Various styles and thoughts flourish amongst the pages, bringing emotions to life and creating beauty from nothingness. The writers included in this collection have been selectively chosen to represent the best modern talent of the age. The list of extraordinary poets featured within include such great talent as:

Paul Morabito, Aric Cushing, Jason P. Hein, Laura Madeline Wiseman, Regina Puckett, Laura Crean, R.M Romarney, Clarissa Simmens, Mark Green, Irum Zahra, Laura A. Lord, Regis McCafferty, Roberto Carlos Martinez, Linda Dobinson, Robert G. Brown, Carolyn O'Connell, Sherry Rentschler, Ben Ditmars, Christopher Meesto Erato, Jill Roberts, Dr. Leesa Abbott, Nichia Morales, Andrea McKenzie Raine, Koyel Mitra, Helle Gade, Terri Cannon, Jerome Michael Bailey, Harika Kottakota, Hafsa Idrees and Kristy Rulebreaker.

Here is the Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Mirrored-Voices-Best-Contemporary-Poetry/dp/1514323966/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435018247&sr=1-4&keywords=paul+morabito

To Play A Broken Record

I hate it when I am trying to write about things such as life, career, parents, friends, freedom, life and death…

But my entire mind agrees to talk about you.

I keep trying to rewrite what I have, remake what I am. And all I manage to think is how you are so content with happened to us, that you sleep just as perfectly fine as any other person. A person who isn’t in love, and why? Because you say that there is no time and space left for real love. So what am I supposed to do then? Cry?

I sure as hell have cried too much. Way too much, and I keep missing you. Not on big occasions, well yes on them too…but on little things. Like your favorite coffee…like your favorite place to eat and how you like to eat. Your disgust on things…and it makes me utterly allergic to that specific thing at once with no reason other than you, you alone. Every time I try and focus on things, you’re the one who sneaks inside my brain and corrupts it. Suddenly I want your hands wrapped around my waist. And your lips near my ears telling me to slow down. Because there is a coldplay song on the radio in your car; and you want us to be in that song.

Together

It really is; a shame for us to part.

Am I supposed to forget you? Like you forgot me?

I was your psycho. And you were my therapist. I fell in love with you. And you tore yourself away from me. You should, come back and haunt me. Even for one more time.

Just once

I want to show you how I have learned to smoke so secretly. I want to tell you how many drugs I have tried. I want you to see my eyes. Darkened with sleeplessness and I want to prove to you that I am not a drag.

No.

I am doing something with my life.

I am trying. I am fighting.

Not just to survive, but to live.

I am brave.  I am living without you.

It’s a hard thing to do, but I am trying to.

One day, I’ll see you. You’ll be right in front of me. And I would be able to reach out and kiss you.

I am waiting for that day. I am still hoping…Which means I am alive.

To Play A Broken Record, Psychaotic

Order Here:

irumzahraofficial@gmail.com

Sea Of Life-Psychaotic

Tear the world apart while you can

Burn it down while it is still on its knees

Take out your anger, the hate, the disgust,

All is bound to break you within

Climb out the walls that keep you sane

Shout and scream till you feel insane

Don’t sleep, don’t rest, don’t sit, and don’t cry,

Shout and scream till the throat runs dry

Smoke the night, the pain, and the hurt

Don’t stop till you feel no more

Cut and let it bleed

Crush and toss away

Everyone’s feelings

When yours didn’t matter

Why should theirs?

Sleep and cry and rest no more

For you have lived many storms before

Run or crawl and find the sea

Dive in the pleasure

Let it set you free.

Look For Love-Psychaotic

Look for love

I had an interesting conversation a while back regarding love and how you shouldn’t find love, but it finds you. And that people who search for it never find it.

Is that fair? I don’t believe so. People are lonely and broken and they often lose hope of anything good to ever happen to them. The only thing they hold on to is the faith that one day they will be loved.

If you say don’t look for it, then what is the purpose of it all? Why shouldn’t we look for a reason to smile?

A reason to live

A reason to hold onto life

You are indirectly implying that stay where you are, stay sad and alone and one day love will knock on your door and you’ll be saved. No… that…almost never happens. Not everyone is that lucky. People need something to build their dreams on.

So why stop looking?

Maybe it’ll make you pathetically sad or maybe it will fill your heart with a million smiles

Both, even.

Our problem is, that we look for love in all the wrong places.

You know exactly what would happen, you know your heart will break but you love anyways

You decide to make this mistake

You don’t stop

And you fall

And when you get up, there is little hope left in your heart

But it’s there right?

All it needs is a rekindling spark.

And you know when you’ll be restless for someone to talk to you, look at you.

Tell you that you are beautiful with all your flaws.

We all have these measures in which we calculate how much a person loves us. And we all want them to love us the way we want them too. At the same time, they are also expecting us to love them the way they want to be loved.

And there you have it.

The ultimate reason of why we always break up on the common Not-being-Good-enough theory.

Why can’t we let people love us the way they want to?

Maybe we would be better that way.

Maybe we would change in a good way.

But do we want to change?

Do we want to create a separate measure of love?

No.

We don’t.

We always cry and gossip on how we want to change and how bored we are.

But in reality we are all so comfortable in our own bubbles that we just scream change from inside. We don’t actually want to come out and transform ourselves.

The day we understand that about ourselves,

Is the day we will know that we are good enough for anyone who says they love us.

Irum Zahra, Psychaotic

Ariel by Irum Zahra

My Dear Ariel

I was there when you were born

Red and little, so fragile

So beautiful

You were my angel

And my companion

My pillar of hope

And all that I wanted

I taught you how to ride a bicycle

And fell and broke your arm

I was sorry but you got better

And I knew no one can do you harm

One day our toys broke

And all our story books got soaked in the rain

We went to live under the sun

With glass walls around us

There were people who wanted to hurt you

And I kept all of them away

We prayed for a roof of our own

And God showed us a new way

I bought colors and pages for you

And you drew us and a cozy weather

You built new toys and I watched you play

Our walls started to grow weak

And we had to leave again

We had grown past the plants

And the kittens born in our yard

They were no longer little

They had lives of their own

I taught you how to smile

When you felt like hell inside

We made golden masks

With smiles fixed on them

We fooled everyone

Our friends and our foes

We sold all our toys

And started having fun

Day by day we lost

Every little part of us

And the masks became us

We stayed by each other

And you taught me how to stay me

I broke my walls like you broke your arm

I fixed myself too, but I was never that strong

Hush, dear rabbit

We’ll be okay

When the world crashes

And the glass walls shatter

We would still have each other

Arm in arm and it would be better

We’ll buy new toys for us

And we can’t afford them,

We’ll learn how to make them by ourselves

We’ll cry every night to sleep

And drink coffee everyday

You’ll be stronger than me

And I’ll lean on you then

When I’ll lose myself 

You can pull me from the river

We’ll stay up all night

And pray to the All Giver

I’ll always love you

As you will love me

We’ll cry together just as we laugh together

We won’t let the stones shatter our glass house

Even if they do

My dear Ariel

I’ll let no stone touch you.

Hush, dear flower

You’re my only hope in this world.

May you always find love,

In places I didn't

And may you get all your toys back

Along with your childhood

Psychaotic: See The World In Red And Black

Psychaotic Review By Colin Andersen

Colin Andersen rated it 5 of 5 stars

In this enticing debut collection, Irum Zahra gives us lyrical poems that seem to evolve straight from the heart. In her writing Irum talks about life, love and the hurt that accompanies human beings, and the anguishes a young woman often has to endure while traveling through life. The writings offered in the collection are evidence of the author's poetic strength and depth of expression.

Almost all the poems are enjoyable and it's hard to resist quoting lines that are examples of splendid poetry, like the ones below:

I speak, I cry, I read, I write,
I like, I hate, I scar, I bleed,
I drown, I feel, I run, I sing,
I say, I yell, I make, I break
"Psychaotic: See The World In Red" is sprinkled with many other gems like the above. Once you complete the book you realize Irum Zahra is a writer capable of delivering poetry which is passionate but does not disintegrate in cheap sentimentality. I highly recommend the collection, it's a must read for poetry lovers.

Review of Psychaotic By Author Holly Newhouse

Irum Zahra's Psychaotic: See the world in red and black, Book Review "20 out of 20 Stars"

By Author Holly Newhouse for Eternal Book Reviews

Just as devotees of certain television shows wish for longer seasons and more episodes, readers of poetry long to have poems that touch their hearts and souls. In this regard, Irum Zahra has been more than accommodating. In her debut book of poetry "Psychaotic: See the world in black and red," Irum Zahra writes in such a way that readers can feel as if they are looking right into her very soul. this is a trait she shares in common with some of history's greatest poets.

As I read the well written and descriptive prose contained within this amazing book, I was struck by the variety of emotions this fantastic poet was able to evoke within myself. As someone who only reads poetry by poets of the Renaissance era and earlier, I was extremely fascinated by the depth of the poetry contained within the lines of this book for which the author has insight-fully named. The poetry she writes, contains themes of darkness, pain, despair, abuse, chaos, misery and disorder that occurred at times in her life when the poems were written and yet, they also contain themes of happiness, love, wonder, perception, and the transformation and change that can occur within a person. All of these these resonated with this reviewer and will resonate with readers worldwide as everyone in life at one time or another has experienced or felt these emotions and themes in their lives as all of these themes make up the human psyche and the human experience. They will resonate more so with those that are misunderstood and suffer or have suffered with mental illness and who wear a mask in public for fear of ridicule or being stereotyped, a very complex issue in the world today and one I deal with on a daily basis as a victim traumatologist. It is an issue that is the dark times within oneself that is rarely shown and suffered with, alone.

"Like a horror story being told, I felt the winds change their course...." is an example of this poet's unique ability in realistic and raw description that hits and resonates with this reviewers very soul.

The poem that affected me the most was called "Musings Underwater." This particular poem speaks about a girl who is empty, cold and alone in a broken home, who questions herself and who she has become, and her current existence. She is a soul, lost, in the reality of her world and present circumstances at the time the poem was written.

This exceptional book of poetry, while deep and dark in some of its themes, is perceived by this reviewer as being therapeutic for the author. This book and her poems are perhaps a way for the author to let go of a painful at times, past and at the same time, it helps the reader to understand complex issues as the poet bares her soul to the world, just as so many amazing poets before her, have done.

It is often said that a truly amazing poet always gives a part of him or herself in the writing of their poetry and it is very clear to this reviewer that Irum Zahra has clearly accomplished just that. The reader does not merely read words on a page with this book, but gets an in depth look into Zahra's soul at the time the poem was written.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of poetry who seek out beloved poets that can deeply move them. Although, if you're not a fan of poetry and it's unique prose then this book is probably not for you. 

I definitely give this book 20 stars which is my highest praise for any book because it is just that good!