Anxiety

Forgive my commentary as I'm just starting.

The imagery is quite emotional. I could feel anxiety, mental anguish, and self doubt with lingering hope.

I like the flow. Change without distraction.

Upon my fifth read of this poem, I was not a huge fan of the final line of the first stanza

I’m dizzy, confused, spiraling

because I feel the audience already gets a feeling that the narrator is dizzy, confused, and spiraling thanks to both the title, and your masterful control of what to describe and not to, as well as the sensations and thoughts explored over the course of the poem as a whole. This line almost serves as a thesis statement to the poem, which in itself is not a bad thing— I just think that this line could either be cut or edited to add more to the poem.

The third stanza really jumps out at me with its first line,

Am I the reason for my own suffering?

I feel like the question raised here is accurate to the inner thoughts of someone in the midst of an anxiety attack. It brings to mind how these moments can be repetitive, and despite that repetition, the feelings are rarely ever less devastating. I think there is room for a little more context as to who the "they" is, mentioned later in the same stanza, since the "they" is brought up again in the two questions that end the stanza.

But would they even comfort me?

Or would they only criticize me?

The fifth and final stanza provides a strong clean finish to this poem.

With blurred vision and swollen eyes,

I finally catch my breath

Slow moving from my cloudy head

The silence is so peaceful

My mind is so blank

It reminds me of the eerie silence after natural disasters like tornadoes or hurricanes— a fitting sensation for the numbness and internal silence after an anxiety attack. This stanza provides a nice but not jarring wind-down from the spiraling action at the climax (which I feel is around stanza three; the mention of "they" in that section actually helped me to imagine the disoriented and disjointed fractioned thoughts in the narrator's mind).

Also, is a super minor thing but I think that an edit to your line lengths would make the poem look even more appealing on the page. Some of the lines are super short, only two or three words long (like the first lines in the first, second, and fourth stanzas), and I feel that the contrast it makes with the longer lines in this work makes the poem look a bit odd on the page in my opinion.

I love this poem, maybe some metaphors or comparisons to ease the flow or to further leave the feeling of anxiety up to the reader? Great poem though, you did a really good job at describing the anxiety.

I can deeply feel what you're portraying. My battle with anxiety, and in response therapy, was a harsh combat. I can genuinely feel that questionable mentality caused by the feeling of helplessness, and diagnosis. This is lovely, and sad all in the same.

Too relatable , u doing alr now???

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