I Do It So It Feels Like Hell, by Ollie Shane

Poetry, chapbook, 36 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Mental health has become a buzzword in a country wracked by waves of grief and mental health issues. Many articles have come out about mental health during the pandemic. Books like Obit by Victoria Chang and All the Flowers Kneeling by Paul Tran have become bestsellers due to their discussions of this subject matter. Ollie Shane’s book I Do It So It Feels Like Hell comes in the middle of this reckoning.

Taking its title from Sylvia Plath’s poetry, who herself was a precursor for discussing mental health, this chapbook discusses many aspects of the mental health industry. It does not shy away from critiques of this place, in particular talking about the inpatient facilities and the impact restraint has on the mind. They also talk about the long road to recovery and the various therapies they went through in order to develop new coping skills. I Do It So It Feels Like Hell is an essential book for understanding the mental health system from someone who lived through it.

Ollie Shane (they/them) is a poet hailing from the East Coast. They are a student at Bryn Mawr College studying Literatures in English. Their work has been published at Bryn Mawr publications like Nimbus and Mythos and literary publications such as Fizz, Anti-Heroin Chic, Philadelphia Stories and Bibliopunks Zine.This is their first chapbook.