“Seems like I am in the dark” is a simile describing how the speaker in the poem is feeling, working off of the idea of “burdened.”

Because the line is broken here, it isolates the word “trapped” illuminating the feeling presented vs. burying it in a longer line.

This line, “had all, lost all,” reminds me of the phrase “win some, lose some.” Both become memorable because of their construction.

In the 5th stanza Akin Olunsanya stated “Had all, lost all,” He repeated himself in this quote. There is significant meaning behind these repeated words in which he said. In the previous lines he describes his mind to be “overwhelmed” and refers that he once was “a man with great pride.” However now as he says “Had all, lost all,” this shows the downfall of his mental health. This is raw. Akin feels as if he had it all and then lost it all. As a person that is one of the worst possible feelings, to feel as though you have everything and then have it be taken from you.

In our society men are supposed to be tough, emotions are not supposed to faze them. It is not fair to call someone weak based on gender if they happen to feel an emotion or have a mental illness that is not considered “manly” or “lady-like.”

The world is speaking to the intended audience for this poem. The world is not clearly identified for us here but it is speaking.

Akin Olunsanya writes on line 10 that " Always be strong," I can strongly relate and many more “Men” can as well just because of how we are expected to behave in this society. Throughout history the role of the man was to protect and provide for their family. That being said, we are expected to be strong and show absolutely no emotion and to some that stands to true to this day, but to others its the opposite.

The author specifically directs this poem toward men, because of personally experience in the way he was treated. The author mentions that the world was always telling him to always be strong. The author indicates that this line is telling him he cannot show emotion because he would no longer be strong. Society places expectations among all types of people, both men and women, and still they expect us to be content. When one is always expected to be strong, their weakness catches up with them, leading to the ability to no longer stand tall. This leads to different mental illnesses, like mentioned by the author.

This is a pretty common kind of metaphor construction that situations luck as a lady or that life is a sort of gamble in which the stakes are high and every opportunity is a chance at great fortune or becoming broke.

By mentioning age her, the speaker seems to feel like they have wasted time by not asking for help when needed, making their 34 years not as good as they could have been.

“With no navigation to weather the storm” is like a metaphor. Here, “navigation” means guidance and tips to get through life, or “the storm”. Life without help or guidance from others is like being on a voyage at sea with no compass, map, or navigation tools to help you find where you need to go.

This line stood out to me because I sometimes feel this way as well. I don’t know where to go next or how to move on. I think navigation is standing for procedure or process and storm is standing for life. I don’t always know how to proceed onto another chapter of life.

In line 13, the text uses symbolism to help the audience grasp a better understanding of mental illness, especially if they do not have one. From my understanding, I see the navigation, or lack there of, as a call out for help. The storm is the pain, the loneliness, the sadness, the confusion, the overload of emotion.

Here at line 14, we see a return to the kind of break we saw in Line 2. It isolates the word lost. On the page, looking down the margin we see words like “trapped” and “lost” being illuminated by sitting on the line all by themselves.

When I read a poem and a line only has one word, that word instantly seems more important. In this particular poem each line is one thought. The shorter lines stand out more, but it only works with lines that have the ability to evoke certain feelings just by being said.

Although Akin Olunsanya states “No more appetite to eat”, this is simply not what is meant. We, as humans, always will have an appetite. The author is speaking of his choice to not eat because of the other obstacles in his life. Those other obstacles include "anxiety, depression, bipolar personality disorder, schizophrenia. His health mentally is declining, and that is reflected in Akin’s physical health. He is, in his own way, unaware that he is letting himself go, because his internal turmoil is so intense.

This is a rhetorical choice that operates on what we call serialization. It presents as items in a series without conjunctions. If we added a conjunction between each item it would be polysyndeton.

The author decides to include this mental disorder on its own line, rather than include it with the others from the previous line, because schizophrenia relates to a person’s perception of what is reality and what is fantasy. It is included on its own line because the main idea of this poem is to entice people to acknowledge mental illness and he is basically saying here that people believe that all these illnesses aren’t real. The next lines support this by acknowledging the reality of mental illness and urges people to speak up and aid those who fall victim to them.

Because the poet addresses men here, it becomes immediately apparent who the audience for this poem is. It was suggested by the title. Affirmed here in this address.

Line 21 where the author states,“C’mon fellas” is the turning point of the poem. In the previous lines, he talks about an experience with mental illness. We do not know if he is talking about himself, but that is what I am going to assume. He talks about how mental illness has not only affected him mentally, but have affected him mentally. How I know that line 21 is the turning point is because now he starts to talk to the audience. He starts using this experience to raise awareness for mental illness.

The poem specifically targets men as the audience. This is because of the toxic stigma around men showing emotion. The “admonishment” (urge/advise) is a push for men to embrace emotions in a healthy and safe manner. Seeking help is hard, expressing emotions in such a vulnerable manner can be a challenging and sometimes slow and tedious process, however it is always worth it to be able to share and release build up. Men often have less of a chance to do this and this poem is making a large push to remind men that they are loved and valid.

I feel the intended audience of this poem is young people who are afraid to speak their minds. Usually members of the youth community are afraid to speak up because they do not want to face the possible consequences. This poem reminds me of the importance to speak up for what I believe in or what I feel needs to be said.

This poem is directed at young men because societal standards tell men they can’t be sad or feel down. Therapy is a scary thing, letting someone see the deepest parts of you, but the author is pushing the audience to do it. Akin Olusanya writes on line 24 “Let’s all speak up, rise, seek help”, kind of saying if one person does it more will follow. The key to making mental health less taboo is to talk to people about it, let them know it isn’t something to be ashamed of. The first step is starting a converstion.