A Loaded Question

Before I start, I just wanted to say that I hope you are doing okay
Although this poem is quite short, it has a lot to unpack. I got the sense from reading it that it's on another level of understand of our emotions, as it explores a very relatable topic. I also want to acknowledge that the poem utilizes a very unique style, by prompting itself with the same repetitive question at the beginning of every stanza. It also drives the poem forward stanza-by-stanza and offers insight on how it might feel to be asked this question.
I think this poem was less about one person, or a "narrator", but rather all of us, and a mutual struggle that all of us have felt and experienced at some point. This poem also shows the important steps of emotional comprehension, and finally coming to an understanding of yourself. I really like the last stanza because it displays the resolve in all of us that is necessary to put everything aside and genuinely ask for help. A lot of people still struggle with asking for help, and there are many reasons to that. Nonetheless, this poem captures that feeling very well, of the fact that sometimes, it's okay to not be okay.
Loved reading this, short and sweet 10/10

Hi there!

First off, I love the overall theme and commentary you're making here. So many conversations feel surface level, and when you're going through something or struggling with depression, anxiety, the loss of a loved one, it can be difficult to get past that surface level into a deeper discussion without feeling like a burden to the other person.

Repetition of "are you okay?" at the start of each sentence gives a nice driving force to the poem, and I enjoy the dialogue feel of this.

I kind of wish there was a bit more on the internal struggle of our narrator. We can all relate to the feeling of not being okay and finding it difficult to convey. This poem does a good job of addressing that on the surface level, kind of like that repeating question "are you okay?". I think this can go a step further with maybe some stanzas between each dialogue stanza to show the reader what's going on internally. If you were to do that, I think shortening the number of dialogue stanzas would be necessary.

Overall, I think this was effective at communicating the emotion and the slow downfall of our narrator's emotions/mental health. Keep at it!