Governed by a Two-Edged Knife

Posted bydonmatthewspoetryPosted inUncategorizedTags:,



Dealing with mental health issues
Step 1. Talk about it
So I am

I’m governed by a two-edged knife
A demon – friend and foe
You ask how is this possible?
How can this be? How so?

My demon is bipolar
Mania (two-edged knife)
One edge is razor sharp for good
The other sharp for strife

My demon when it is a friend
Helps me write, create
But when it rises up as foe
(I to the GP go….)

My mind it works in strange-like ways
At times can’t work it out?
Like in the last verse (humour flip)
Is this an insane route?

Don’t worry two-edged poet
Your family, friends, GP
All help you stay on knife-edge good
All of them do, all three

So if you own a knife like me
You’ll know just how it feels
I hope your medications work
And help your life to heal

BIPOLAR DISORDER – An imbalance of chemicals in the brain. Born with it. No cure. Extreme mood swings. Controlled with medications. Often very creative. Spike Milligan, Robin Williams (suicide), Vincent Van Gogh, Ernest Hemingway (suicide), Virginia Woolf (suicide), Mariah Carey, Brian Wilson, Jimmi Hendrix, Stephen Fry “There are times when I’m doing QI and I’m going ‘Ha ha, yeah, yeah’ and inside I’m going ‘I want to fucking die, I…want…to…fucking…die”

Bipolars need three simple things – understanding, accepting and supporting.



Don Matthews
December 2019

“Creativity is closely associated with bipolar disorder. This condition is unique . Many famous historical figures and artists have had this. Yet they have led a full life and contributed so much to the society and world at large. See, you have a gift. People with bipolar disorder are very very sensitive. Much more than ordinary people. They are able to experience emotions in a very deep and intense way. It gives them a very different perspective of the world. It is not that they lose touch with reality. But the feelings of extreme intensity are manifested in creative things. They pour their emotions into either writing or whatever field they have chosen” (pg 181)”
― Preeti Shenoy, Life is What You Make It: A Story of Love, Hope and How Determination Can Overcome Even Destiny


“The greatest communication barrier known to man is the lack of the common core of experience “When’s the last time you had a Manic Episode Doctor”?”
― Stanley Victor Paskavich (bipolar)

Published by donmatthewspoetry

I just like playing round with words. And having fun

10 thoughts on “Governed by a Two-Edged Knife”

  1. Thank you for sharing this and raising awareness of bipolar – and how it actually feels. I haven’t experienced it, but I do suffer from PMDD which is sometimes mistaken for rapid-cycling bipolar. It’s brutal, but the good times are the best!

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  2. You are great. Thanks for sharing.
    I had a good friend with BP whose non-BP mother had a difficult time accepting her daughter because her own mother (my friend’s grandmother) had BP and that negatively affected her childhood.
    It’s very impressive that you go to the doctor when you’re feeling manic – a lot of BP I’ve heard of and/or met don’t make their ways to their drs when they’re feeling “strife”. So, good on you. Seriously.

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