KNEE BRACE PRESS

A place for stories about chronic illness, disability, mental health, and neurodivergence.

mental health

  • A black and white photo of a woman with long hear reading a book. She is sitting by a window and wears a light-colored sweater.

    Pill-chinko

    By

    Red oblong, 3x… AM. Clink. LUNCH. Clink. DINNER. Clink. Repeat… 21

  • A white man with shoulder-length white hair and a white beard.

    For Rief

    By

    In this poem about grief and death, poet Alan Abrams tells us what it’s like to watch a friend fade away, knowing you could be next.

  • The back of a person sitting in a desert. Her hair is dark brown and short. She wears a gray T-shirt.

    Brain Zaps

    By

    In this essay for Knee Brace Press, C. Taylor discusses the dueling sensations of taking and missing her pills.

  • A white woman taking a mirror selfie. She is smiling at the camera. She is holding phone, which is purple, and wears a shirt with Adam Driver's face on it several times over.

    Stitch by Stitch

    By

    “I’ll spend my whole life/Disentangling from you/That’s all fine/I can handle it.”

  • Invalid Invalid

    By

    Eli Underwood is a writer, organizer, and archivist living with CPTSD, ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and Long Covid. Read their poem, Invalid Invalid.

  • Chaos Confetti

    By

    For our one hundredth post at Knee Brace Press, poet Casey Sharp writes about her experience with ADHD.

  • An Asian man smiling with his mouth closed and looking at the camera. He has short, black hair and is wearing a black shirt and glasses. He is standing against a white wall.

    After the Collapse

    By

    Brian Lee is a writer and poet from Singapore who scribbles when he should be having lunch. Read his latest poem, After the Collapse.

  • An Asian man smiling with his mouth closed and looking at the camera. He has short, black hair and is wearing a black shirt and glasses. He is standing against a white wall.

    When I Was A Monster

    By

    “I saw all the lights in my dreams/But nobody dared to approach me/Because I didn’t know how/To use my words.”

  • A white woman with gray hair smiling with her mouth closed at the camera.

    Insanity Camp

    By

    “I make light with a lantern made of papier-mache/It burns me as it shows the way/To a one-star resort with a welcoming glow/Leave the light on for me/Thinking makes it so.”

  • An Asian man smiling with his mouth closed and looking at the camera. He has short, black hair and is wearing a black shirt and glasses. He is standing against a white wall.

    The Trees

    By

    In his poem, The Trees, Brian Lee muses on questions of nature, the human mind, and neurodiversity.