Life Poems

About the Book

The tragic incident of my thirty-years untreated mental illness had made me attempted to kill someone close to me which taught me that out of the greatest pain can come the greatest beauty. All of the poems in this book were written while I was in the mental hospital being treated for my mental illness, and prove to me that “What Satan meant for evil, God can and does use for good.” I was out of my mind when I committed the act of attempted murder, yet the worse day of my life became the turning point when I awoke to the fact that I needed to first surrender to God and then ask Him for direction and purpose for my life. That prayer was answered through me discovering that I had a talent for writing poetry and motivational speaking while in Elgin Mental Health Center from 2003–2013. These poems are not the mad ramblings you would expect from the criminally insane, but are the personal expressions of deep pain and revelations of a man who awoke from a state of apathy to a new world of love and beauty. I hope that all those who read these poems will come to understand that the bitterest lemons can be turned into the sweetest lemonade, if you are willing to look at life and your experience through different glasses than those you have seen its pain and ugliness through. Danny has been certified by Toastmasters International as a competent public speaker (1991 East Moline). He received his GED from the Chicago City Colleges (1981) and obtained a certificate in graphic arts from Southeastern Illinois College (1987). He is a former member of the Pan-African Revolutionary Socialist Party. He spent twenty years in prison and ten in Elgin Mental Health Center. While in the hospital he wrote over eight hundred poems, three books of daily meditations, and numerous speeches and Afrocentric anecdotes. He also acted as a mentor for younger consumers while there, leading his own peer-support groups and chairing GROW for four years (2003–07). He has been clean of all illegal drugs and alcohol for fourteen years. His mission is to be the most infectiously optimistic and exceptionally giving person possible and to encourage others to be equally optimistic and giving. Danny is not one who believes you can’t make it because you have some strikes against you; he is one to tell you that, “Anything you can conceive and believe you can achieve” (Napoleon Hill). You can post comments on my e-mail at dannycrystal7963@gmail.com.

About the Author

Danny has been certified by Toastmasters International as a competent public speaker (1991 East Moline). He received his GED from the Chicago City Colleges (1981) and obtained a certificate in graphic arts from Southeastern Illinois College (1987). He is a former member of the Pan-African Revolutionary Socialist Party. He spent twenty years in prison and ten in Elgin Mental Health Center. While in the hospital, he wrote over eight hundred poems, three books of daily meditations, and numerous speeches and Afrocentric anecdotes. He also acted as a mentor for younger consumers while there, leading his own peer-support groups and chairing GROW for four years (2003-07). He has been clean of all illegal drugs and alcohol for fourteen years. His mission is to be the most infectiously optimistic and exceptionally giving person possible and to encourage others to be equally optimistic and giving. Danny is not one who believes you can’t make it because you have some strikes against you; he is one to tell you that “anything you can conceive and believe you can achieve,” (Napoleon Hill).