Mithridatism, by Devyn Elyzabeth

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Honing in on the multi-faceted nature of coming of age while living with mental illness, Mithridatism is a 22 piece poetry collection that narrows in on the many shades of gray these times and emotions are painted in. With poems dealing with complex thoughts and behaviors, anxiety, PTSD, queerness, desire, and more, Mithridatism asks the reader to examine their understanding of how mental illness warps and shapes the world of those impacted by the alternative reality they find themselves in through no fault of their own.

As a concept, mithridatism is the act of swallowing poison to become accustomed or immune to it. To lessen the effects. To be more than what one is infected with. These poisons can take many forms both internal and external. Each poem deals with this push and pull between their own ideologies, what their heart most desires, and what the poison does to these hopes and dreams. The narrator is often caught in a space of longing and fear, forced to swallow and swallow until some other solution presents itself. Until the poison loses effect. Sometimes this pain can be a friend and lover, but often it is an unwelcome shadow that darkens even the most joyous parts of one’s life. Even through the poison and pain of the narrator’s poems and perspective, there are bits of sunlight and music to cling to. This chapbook serves as a small representation of searching for love and control whether or not that comes alongside healing.

Devyn Elyzabeth is a 25 year old queer writer and barista with a BA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago. Her work can be found in many online publications such as Vellichor Literary, Beyond Words Magazine, Ribs, Antler Velvet Magazine, and Lilith’s Diaries. She also publishes personal essays on Substack and has recently hit the one year mark of working on her very first novel. It has been Devyn’s dream to publish a collection of poetry and share in the joy of it with her community since she was sixteen and she couldn’t be more proud of the effort that bore Mithridatism. For more inquiries about her and her work, you can find Devyn @devyn_elyzabeth on Instagram and find her contact at linktr.ee/devynelyzabeth.