Poem Analysis: For a Depressed Woman 

For a Depressed Woman

I
My friends do not know.
But what could my friends not know?
About what? What friends?

II
She sleeps late each day,
stifling each reason to rise,
choked into the quilt.

III
"I'll never find work."
She swallows this thought with pills,
finds tears in the glass.

By James A. Emanuel (1921-2013) 

In this poem, James A. Emanuel maybe tried to illustrate the situation of many African-American women who suffer alone, forgotten by society. James himself probably saw this situation happen with many people of his community when growing up.

Actually, this poem is a haiku; the author used the inspiration of the classic 3-line poem Haiku and tried to do something new. The poem or haiku is divided in three parts. Together they make a story, but they can also be read separately and still have a particular meaning for each part. The title reflects exactly the poem content. The whole poem describes the bitter routine of a depressed woman and her inner and social conflicts. The author made use of metaphor to make it more clear and strong.

The woman is definitely a lonely woman. In the first part of the poem the lady is lost in thoughts, maybe remembering some old and gone friendships that now she can only think about and it makes her regret being alone. She also seems to be denying her problems. In the second part, the woman is fighting with herself in a bad way, she is not fighting against the depression, she is feeding it when she suffocates each and every reason to get up. In the last part of the poem, it becomes clear that the woman has a severe depression, she is utterly pessimistic, plus she is probably addicted to prescription drugs.

Although everybody knows that  depression is something hard to overcome, the woman of the poem does not make any effort to fight it off. If she had some friends to count on she probably would try to overcome her depression, or at least look for help. In our view, this Haiku poem has a perfect punchline: it keeps us wondering about the friends we have and if we value them or not. The poem also shows that during hard times we can be the ones who hold back the possibility for the improvement of our mental and physical health.

By: Anderson S. Todini and Lais Pires