A frank account of a four-year struggle with a force that cannot be reasoned with - bipolar. Everybody experiences stress, guilt and grief; we all have days when we don't like ourselves very much. Imagine waking up one day and that is all you feel for months and months. But if we are never awake in darkness, we can never truly appreciate the light. Mental illness needs to be better understood and openly accepted. Walking the Black Dog is written by one who has been to the dark side and lived to write poetry about it.