Fractured Lollipop is a poetry book based on my personal life experiences and also my professional experiences working in the health care field.

Ruth’s Place

Human Services internships will awaken you to the flipside

of your cozy life.

Thirty days of sleeping on makeshift beds.

Head-to-head with strangers that seem half dead.

Societies lost and broken beings.

Women telling stories of their hardcore lives.

Sometimes eating food from trash bins and leftover restaurant scraps, walking all hours of the day and night.

trying to change this broken system.

Words of encouragement.

Trying to make us more human again.

Just wondering and wandering through city streets.

Stories of past idyllic and not-so-happy lives.

Promises made and promises shattered while sleeping in the cold.

Committing a misdemeanor is the only means of a warm jail cell for the winter.

Hoping the lawyer will intervene—

Sending us to a shelter.

Hearing of a place near Pennsylvania Avenue that provides the basic needs.

Social workers, volunteers and interns

Excerpt from

Fractured Lollipop

Book By

Mary Anne Abdo

Mental health struggles are universal. Talking or writing about this subject matter is another narrative. Since the pandemic the need to focus on mental health issues have increased and to obtain help is vital to our society. Fractured Lollipop is a poetry collection that invites us to have conversations about this topic. A topic that is often suppressed since it is uncomfortable to speak about. It is a journey that no one should carry on alone. Many of the poems are based on my life experiences working in the health care field.

Content disclaimer for reader discretion: Adult Themes. Some of the subject matter contained in the book may be sensitive for a few readers.

This poetry book provides an honest insight into the ramifications of abuse, trauma, loss, stress, anxiety, and depression. Mixed with glimmers of healing and hope against the struggles of life. Included on the last page are resources for contacting mental health lifelines.

Mary Anne Abdo is a poet, author, and photographer. She graduated magna cum laude from Luzerne County Community College with a degree in Human Services. With a background in freelance journalism; she uses her poetry as a source of creative expression, which reflects on many facets of what it means to be a human being living in these modern times. Mary Anne has a passion for art, culture and literature. Her work has been featured in The Edge of Humanity Magazine, Moonstone Press, Pennsylvania Bards, The Skeptics Kaddish, The Avocet, Calla Press, and Studio B’s annual poetry anthology 2022 and 2023. Mary Anne placed second for her photography and short story submission in the Museum of Family Prayer’s 2022 Mary Garden contest. She has also collaborated on the children’s book, Creative Gems Volume 2, and has been featured internationally in Bindweed Magazine’s seasonal anthology.

All images & text © Mary Anne Abdo