"A Geography of Disparate Spirits": Pathology as Oppression in "A Woman is Talking to Death" and "Mental".

ABSTRACT

This article foregrounds Judy Grahn's commitment to social justice and chiefly considers her nine-part poems "A Woman is Talking to Death" and "Mental." These poems illuminate the socially constructed nature of mental illness and challenge readers to consider how and why the characters within them are deemed mentally ill. Little, if any, scholarship has been devoted to using Grahn's poetry, and particularly "Mental," as a framework for analyzing the pathologization of people, especially women, relative to the system of mental health. Her work remains relevant to critical conversations that illuminate contemporary issues of oppression that still haunt us today.