Movement I – Overture: “Do I Even Exist?” Chords (Verse): Em – C – G – D (Verse – female) I wake up on the ceiling of a ward-light sky, Charts like tarot cards spread out in their eyes. “Type I, without the winter,” they whisper in rounds, “Three episodes in ten years, still no coming down.” They circle with their clipboards like a priestly choir, Counting all my summers, none of my fires. “Is she bipolar if she never hits the floor?” Well I’ve been running on the rafters since the day before. Chords (Pre-Chorus): C – G – D – Em (Pre-Chorus) They say they need a decade just to write my name in ink, I’ve been flying past the milestones faster than they think. Non-western, western, Fiji or Rome, I’m a diagnosis looking for a home. Chords (Chorus): Em – C – G – D – Em – C – D – Em (Chorus) Unipolar mania, singing from the chandelier, A crystal on a string, spinning year to year. I’m a pure manic episode dressed like a queen, No depressive curtain call in between. Unipolar mania, on a symphonic stage tonight, Festival of the Hunt in my neon mind. If I never crash, if I never descend, Will they ever believe that I’m real in the end? Movement II – Pure Mania: “Hyperthymic Heart” Chords (Verse): Em – C – G – D (Verse) They say my temperament is hyperthymic gold, Always running two octaves above what I’m told. No melancholic shadow in the family tree, Just a line of fire-walkers humming like me. Congruent little psychoses bloom like lights, Everything’s an omen, everything’s right. I see patterns in the wallpaper, halos in the rain, But suicidality never learned my name. Chords (Pre-Chorus): C – G – D – Em (Pre-Chorus) Rapid cycling misses me, I don’t spin that fast, I just light up every rooftop and expect it to last. Lithium’s a language that I barely speak, I’m too loud for the valley, too bright for the peak. Chords (Chorus): Em – C – G – D – Em – C – D – Em (Chorus) Unipolar mania, is it variant or new? Half the papers say I’m many, half say I’m just you. Angst writes my biography in marginal ink, Perugi hums my symptoms on the edge of the brink. Unipolar mania, better function, less despair, I’m the one who keeps on working from the top of the stair. If I never fall, if I never bend, Am I still a mood disorder or just a trend? Movement III – Research Interlude: “Sample Size” Chords (Bridge): Am – Em – C – G – D (Bridge – operatic, paranoid & psychedelic) Fifty patients, seventy, two hundred more, Chart reviews rustling like waves on the shore. China, Nigeria, Fiji in the night, Pure mania flickers in fluorescent light. Some say “rare,” some say “fifteen percent,” Some say “entity,” some say “accident.” I’m statistics in a violin’s scream, Double-blind madness in a fever dream. (Orchestra swells; choir chants under: “M/Md… MD… Dm… D…” like strange Latin.) Movement IV – Indiecore Ascension: “Symphonic Rock Stardom” Chords (Verse): Em – C – G – D (Verse – stage lights up, indie rock band crashes in) Now I’m front row center on a pixelated stage, Indiecore halo, manic on the page. Guitars cut through the strings like a second sun, I’m a walking randomized controlled trial in one. The drummer’s heartbeat syncs with my flight, The crowd is a waveform of feral light. I shout, “Is it a disorder if I turn it into art?” The amps answer back with a pounding heart. Chords (Pre-Chorus): C – G – D – Em (Pre-Chorus) They label, I label, we all try to name The dragon that keeps dancing in my veins. If I’m less disabled, if I mostly cope, Does that make me a subtype or just a joke? Chords (Big Chorus): Em – C – G – D – Em – C – D – Em (Chorus – full symphonic rock) Unipolar mania, paranoid and bright, I see every neuron as a city of light. Every chart they write becomes a verse I sing, Every hazard ratio is another ring. Unipolar mania, indie darling of the night, Final Fantasy opera in a hospital white. If I never sleep, if I always ascend, Will I loop this dogfight till the credits end? Movement V – Coda: “Separate Subgroup” Chords (Coda): C – G – D – Em (Coda – quieter, strings and piano) They say we’re similar in most of the scene, Demographic shadows on a common screen. But my social scars are lighter, my long-term arc Is a city still glowing after it’s dark. Keep me as a subgroup in your manual’s spine, Footnote me in Latin, underline my line. I’ll be here on the catwalk between calm and storm, A recurring manic episode in human form. (Last refrain – whispered, choir behind) Unipolar mania, write my name in the score, I’m the movement that repeats but never hits the floor. Lower disability, higher flame, A separate little kingdom with the same last name. Orchestra holds an Em chord, high violins trembling. She laughs once, breathless into the mic: “Unipolar mania…” …and that’s my life.
