Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious yes it's precocious!!!
Unedified ekphrastic energy metes out dialectical daedal, assonance on sweeeeeeeeeeet apotheosis, or could it be the annihilative asseveration of...
Attention 🧠
Deficit ➖
Hyperactivity 🤪
Disorder 😞
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Paramount expression as vandal, hell, language lives rent-free betwixt pseudomorph leeward lapidary lines.
Concise excision of square-shaped thought patterns unto acquiesced forward-thinking THRUSTS, such a thespian utopia.
Or so it seems beneath garish gray matter-of-subconscious postsynaptic P-O-P, S-N-A-P, & T-O-N-U-S.
Noradrenergic tonicity as elixir of sanity.
Psychotropic enantiomers color every chronotropic feeling in kaleidoscopic can-not-stop-me-now comeliness.
Reap and sow, or reward circuitry channels neuroses nirvana, a catecholamine surge on some edge of self-sabotaging treasonous reason.
Sophistry for scotomata's sempervirens GrEeN aRoUnD tHy GiLlS sake.
What of societal stigma? "Stimulants are for junkies" reprobation in all probability? Rococo rhapsodic bullshit is "what?"
A 💊
V 💊💊
O 💊💊💊
I 💊💊💊💊
D 💊💊💊💊💊
A 💊💊💊💊💊💊
N 💊💊💊💊💊💊💊
C 💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊
E 💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊
Is the catharsis cure lest belief becomes descry deed, lest laid to retronym rest six inflexible feet under, lest wondering. Wondering. WONDERING.
Damage control was left for dead.
(c) Edward Swafford 2026
Author's note: This poem was written unmedicated, with intention. I live with ADHD and take daily stimulant medication to survive. It isn't a trendy, kooky concentration disorder; it's a neurochemical deficit.
The stigma surrounding stimulant-based medication is suffocating. Fuck the shame and fuck the doubters. These medications save lives — I'm living proof.
Before I was diagnosed, I could "mask" and/or appear calm and serene to the average bystander, yet my anxiety levels were sky-high. Elevated cortisol levels impacted my physical and mental health.
Frenzy is the word for *my* unmedicated sense of self, perception, and my mind's cursed default instruction to feel.
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About the Creator
Edward Swafford
Hello! I'm an Australian writer, copywriter, and healthcare professional. I've written on Medium for over two years and also run Black Coffee Creative on Substack (over 900 subscribers).
Edgy syntax is my bailiwick.
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Compelling and original writing
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Comments (7)
This is highly intense. I like how you laid it out. I understand neurobiological conditions very well. My mom is OCD a brutal condition which is very hard for me, as her 24/7 caregiver, to deal with. OCD and ADHD have similar outward traits but the sources are different and have different behavioral patterns - but to the untrained (or unfamiliar) eye they look very familiar. There is no shame in taking care of yourself and doing what must be done to survive day to day. Bless you my friend - you’re doing a great job and you’re an incredible writer.
I love how you made the experience of ADHD visceral and tangible. The play with form, visuals, and repetition really mirrors the frenetic energy of the mind you describe.
This feels like being inside an ADHD brain with the volume turned all the way up. Thanks for sharing your story.
I have taken medication for post-traumatic stress with anxiety for over twenty years. I feel no shame as it has changed my life. I don't care what others think. Edward, thank you for writing and sharing this part of yourself with us! ❤
Heartfelt, powerful, and, as always, intensely creative and unique. I'm also a lifelong member of this club. Your sentiment is spot-on. Do what needs to be done to treat yourself. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. For those of us who deal with the REALITY of ADHD - thank you.
love this, Edward! late dx'd (48) woman here and ooop...the gentleness i am now able (most of the time) to meet myself with (with a just-right mix of stimulants & anti-d's) has been wild (& wonderful!). it hasn't quite been a year yet, so i'm still figuring out what's masking, what's understandable adaptation to social and systemic pressures/norms & whether or not it matters (or how often it matters and when it matters and which bits matter...).
This is fantastic, Edward. I love it! Lots to unravel in every stanza. I'm bipolar and epileptic. I take 6 pills to start the day and four before bed at night. I know exactly what you mean about how vital meds are. My bipolar mood swings destroyed pretty much every relationship I had. I was diagnosed as being bipolar until two years ago, when I was 62 but I have apparently been bipolar my entire life. You have a unique perspective. I love how you express it. ⚡️💙Bill ⚡️