Your Catholic Neighbor
Finding comfort in poetry
Mickey overcomes life's challenges by counting on God, his poetry
By Sam Lucero
Compass staff
MANITOWOC -- From the living room of his small apartment, Stephen Mickey spends his time writing poetry. It's God's gift to him, he said, and it's his escape from the physical and mental ailments that cripple his life.
"The Holy Spirit guides me when I write," said Mickey. "It's God's gift to me to give to others. If God would take this gift from me, I think part of me would die."
Mickey's life has been shadowed by trials and hardships. Yet through poetry and his faith in God, he has persevered.
Born March 10, 1948, in Maryland, Mickey contracted polio when he was about 2. He was paralyzed for six months, "and then I literally had to start life over again," he said.
Raised in a devout Catholic family, Mickey attended Catholic schools and had aspirations of entering a religious order.
"All my life, I wanted to be a religious brother," he said. "All of my attempts were thwarted, but I've never become bitter about it."
Mickey spent more than a decade in and out of religious communities, including seven years with the Capuchin Franciscans in New York. Each time, questions about his physical or mental health prevented him from full membership.
In 1980, while he was with the Capuchins, his mother, who suffered from Alzheimier's disease, passed away.
It was a time of mental anguish and depression. Later, Mickey was diagnosed as mildly bipolar.
"That's when I just started to write. I was still searching, but I think God had other plans for me," he said.
After his mother's death, Mickey moved to Wisconsin, still seeking to become a religious brother. While with the Salvatorian religious order in St. Nazianz, Mickey befriended Katie Muehlbauer. When he left the Salvatorians, Muehlbauer opened her home to Mickey.
"We were both volunteers with Meals on Wheels," said Muehlbauer, who is a member of St. Greogry Parish in St. Nazianz. "He didn't have any place to live and I had a spare bedroom and I said he could have it."
Mickey attended Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland, Wis., and received a nurse's aide certificate. He worked for two years at a retirement home in Sheboygan, but the physical labor triggered severe fatigue and pain, the result of childhood polio. Called post-polio syndrome, the affliction still haunts him today.
Mickey returned to school in 1984 and earned a bachelor's degree from Silver Lake College in 1988. His student-designed major was in human services for the elderly.
He found a job at Northridge Nursing Home in Manitowoc, working with elderly residents. "I was only there six months because the post-polio was getting so bad. I got fatigued real easily."
At this point, Mickey turned to writing poetry. "With writing, I can do it any time," he said.
He started writing poems about the challenges in his life, about the people who have helped him, and about the world around him. One of his biggest supporters is Franciscan Sr. Kay Elmer, who worked at Silver Lake College while Mickey was attending classes. She has helped him prepare his poetry for publication, typing and editing his poems.
Sr. Kay commended Mickey for his determination in the face of all his physical challenges.
"He surely has a passion to help others and to make a difference in this world," she said. "He uses whatever ability and gifts God has given him to do what he can. He won't give up on anything, even though his physical strength is taxed because of post-polio."
One of Mickey's big accomplishments was establishing his own business, Poetic Expressions, which he used to publish nine booklets of poetry. Each booklet uses poetry as a means to heal. Mickey's latest book, "The Healing of a Song," was published in August 2007.
When he began Poetic Expressions, Mickey teamed up with an artist who illustrated his poetry. He learned about the artist from an article in Compassion magazine, published by the Passionist religious order.
The artist, Dennis S. Lennon, is a prisoner in Louisiana serving a life sentence for armed robbery 30 years ago. Lennon had a conversion experience in prison and turned his life around. Mickey and Lennon have become good friends and have collaborated on numerous projects.
In one of Mickey's earliest poetry booklets, "The Mystery of Life: Healing Through Writing," published in 2000, he writes about a variety of tragedies. First, a tornado that struck St. Nazianz, destroying the home he shared with his friend Katie and forcing him to move on his own to Manitowoc; about the discovery of a tumor on his spine, which was removed and found to be benign; and about his father's death while still recovering from surgery, and being unable to attend the funeral.
A common thread in most of Mickey's poetry is thankfulness to God.
In his poem, "A Rainbow Ahead of Us," he writes:
Each step you take is like a new beginning
It might be going through depression,
Financial hurdle
Or meeting new people
In all these circumstances
We must rely on God
Have faith and hope
That there will be a rainbow ahead of us.
"Writing has let me save my life," said Mickey. "There are times when I thought of committing suicide, and when I get so depressed I write it out. That's why this book is so powerful, because it shows what I've been through and how I got through it."
Muehlbauer said she is inspired by Mickey's poetry and his determination. "He inspires me to go on and forget about the past and look to the future," she said. "He (writes poetry) just to help people. It's like a ministry to him."
Those interested in purchasing a copy of Mickey's latest book can write to him at 1500 N. 3rd St., #137, Manitowoc, WI, 54220.
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