time doesn’t pass in the blink of an eye
it passes in the length of a breath
a year trudges on like a deep inhale, slow and satisfying at first
but before you know it, a new year comes and you’re forced to exhale so quickly that you’re left gasping and wanting more
Mar 8, 2024
Mar 8, 2024 at 4:38 PM UTC
Thinking about the fact that the only time I was ever heard was when I was in the psych unit after my suicide attempt…and not a moment before nor after.
I felt at peace while in the crisis unit. Being there felt like the safe, comforting motherly hug I’d never received.
I was born alone and I will die alone. That is all I need to know.
Choking on the words I’ll never say
All the things I never said. All the things I never said. Spinning circles in my head. Spinning circles in my head.
How am I supposed to be a good mother when I’ve never known a good mother?
Opening the liquor cabinet and telling myself I’m only drinking all this alcohol so that my dad won’t.
The reasons why I’m still here are fading away more and more each day. Once they’re gone and I’ve seen as much of the world as I want, I’m out of here. There is no purpose to this existence. There never was and there never will be.
The curiosity of the future is not enough to overcome the devastation of today.
I tell myself I’m only pushing them away so that it will be easier on them when I’m gone. And I will be gone.
He will be the hardest to let go.
He deserves better than me. He always has. He deserves the world. Maybe someday he’ll forgive me. Maybe someday he’ll realize I did him a favor.
Dec 15, 2021
Dec 15, 2021 at 5:15 AM UTC
I am two parts. One part is still a child. She is immature and lazy. She knows only to do, never to think. She never got to grow up. The other part grew up too fast. She is strict and wise. All she does is think and think and think. She never got to be a child.
Why does my husband only love me when it doesn’t interfere with his career?
Why does my mom only love me when people are watching?
I keep having this nightmare where I talk to people, but no one hears me because I’ve lost my voice. I’ll scream at them and they won’t even spare me a glance. You know, it’s crazy because it happens sometimes when I’m awake, too.
My dad is dying. I want to go to sleep.
My brother is dying. I would gladly take his place.
Caught somewhere between “I don’t need anyone” and “please come back to me."
He started hiding the liquor in the house. I don’t know whether to hug him or hit him.
I often think about my life. I’ve worked so hard to build a happy, healthy routine for myself - something safe. But I don’t feel safe. I feel like I can’t ******* breathe.
Why does 3 AM come and go so quickly?
Last year I cracked and gave my mom the link to my poetry page in hopes that maybe she'd start to see and feel things the way I do. The other day, I asked if she had kept up with it. She said she didn't know what I was talking about.
The holidays are upon us and I cannot go home. I cannot face it.
My youngest sister is getting baptized on Sunday. She wants me to be there for her. I would rather bleed myself dry than go…but I will go. This is what I do.
My writing is **** recently.
My therapist tells me to imagine that I'm in a room. I'm safe and no one can hurt me. No one is around, I am alone. Nothing can touch me. I feel nothing. I open my eyes but I'm still in that room. I'm still in that ******* room.
I was 4 years old. FOUR YEARS OLD. And it took years for me to realize my childhood had ended when I was just 4 years old.
Nov 12, 2020
Nov 12, 2020 at 4:25 AM UTC
in and out
up and down
push and pull
you are natural, instinctual
you are vital to me
inhale and exhale
you are like breathing
Mar 21, 2020
Mar 21, 2020 at 7:20 AM UTC
no one likes to think they're selfish. i've denied my selfishness for years, because being selfish would mean that all those people were on to something when they said "you remind me so much of your mom." my dad is going to die soon. my teenaged brother won't live to see 30. yet, all i can think about is how the hell I'M supposed to wake up tomorrow, knowing this.
i've come to greet bad news like an old friend. instead of crying about it, i immediately head towards the liquor cabinet.
i went to my friends baby shower the other day. she looked happy, so i tried my best to be happy for her. everyone made comments about how they couldn't wait to have their own kid and blah blah blah. but as i sat in her living room, surrounded by the hopeful, happy faces of the girls i grew up with, i realized that i will never ever be like them. i realized that i wish i could be.
the most selfish thing a parent can do to their child is bring them into a world like this.
i think being wise means being able to see things for what they are and see people for who they are, and i can't help but figure that's why the smartest people are the most depressed.
my favorite teacher from high school just died. of all the students she ever taught, she once claimed she liked me the most. i didn't go to her funeral. in fact, when i found out, i felt absolutely nothing at all.
i recently earned my degree. after 5 years full of (literally) blood, sweat, and tears, I finally earned my degree. but as i sat in my chair, waiting for my name to be called so i could cross the stage and shake hands with the dean, i felt so ******* disappointed in myself. even my therapist can't explain that one.
2/3 of the people i love most in this world most likely won't be here in 10 years. i want to go to sleep.
sometimes i feel so ******* trapped that it becomes hard to breathe. then i remind myself, "you're doing everything they said you're supposed to be doing", but all it does is make me hyperventilate harder.
i can't tell my mom i love her without wanting to die.
it's cliche, i know, but i've come to truly realize that all you have in this tragic world is yourself. the only person you have to live with is you. so if you hate yourself...well i guess your **** out of ******* luck. ha
Jul 1, 2019
Jul 1, 2019 at 10:45 PM UTC
when you're driving
do you ever wonder about the layers
between you and that tree?
Feb 7, 2019
Feb 7, 2019 at 11:17 PM UTC
everyone has that place their mind wanders to whenever boredom strikes, or whenever they become "zoned out"
mine?
my mind always imagines a ballerina in black, doing pirouette turns over and over again
it's especially vivid whenever i'm listening to music
over and over, round and round
i only realized this today, & it made me wonder why my mind always drifted there
i thought about it until i realized
how fitting
my conscious mind is always turning in circles
so of course my subconscious mind would, too
his hands on my body
the reeking smell of alcohol and coercion
my mother's lies
my brother's handshake with the grim reaper
the realization
the humiliation
the first time i told her i hated her
the sting of her palm against my face
my father's alcohol problem
i can't escape alcohol
my alcohol problem
the feel of the blade against my skin
the sterile smell of the crisis unit
everyone's willingness to condemn & forget
i don't forget
my body
his breath
her lies
death
humilation
the sting
the alcohol
the blood
the sterility
the pain
the pain
the pain
over and over, round and round
turning constant circles in my head
i fall down
Sep 16, 2018
Sep 16, 2018 at 1:06 AM UTC
my therapist told me to write more. problem is, i can't write in my journal at this very moment because that may tip him off that i'm up to no good. ever since he's been living here with me, i haven't had the alone time i need in order to purge my feelings. so i keep them inside glass jars in my head, but my inventory is overflowing.
he once told me that he thought i was "one of those people who will never be happy". i wanted to be offended, but instead i shut down. that was months ago, and i still haven't fully woken up yet.
i've come to realize that i can't recall the times when i'm feeling better than "not okay." my therapist tells me that's one of my biggest obstacles. she tells me i need to learn how to recognize positive emotions, as if i didn't already ******* know that. sometimes i feel like therapy is simply flushing money down the toilet.
i haven't had any episodes recently. the ssri's keep my emotions from occurring at all. i've learned to accept that my baseline attitude is "blah". though i can't say that whenever they ask how i'm doing. no sir. maybe if i can convince them that i'm doing better, i can convince myself??
there aren't any decent movies that address mental illness. hollywood is just now starting to address the topics of race, sexuality, and feminism. but you'd think with 16 million depressed people in america, those elitist ******** could come up with some way i can show my family what it's like to live without life. maybe then they'll be able to understand why they shouldn't keep asking if i'm okay.
i told him that i just wanted some alone time today and he said, "have you taken your pills?"
i keep having these dreams where i'm trying to say something, but it won't come out. i've literally woken my dog up several times during the night, because i've actually yelled out loud due to the struggle in my dreams.
i went hiking last week in the hopes that nature would bring me clarity. it didn't. in fact, i feel crazier than ever. i kept seeing myself lying in the clear freshwater as the current took me away. i'm not saying that to be poetic. i actually had hallucinations.
i think i may have a drinking problem
Mar 23, 2018
Mar 23, 2018 at 11:50 PM UTC
"She says, 'It's only in my head.'
She says, 'Shh, I know it's only in my head."
I was baptized when I was four years old
except it didn't turn out like most baptisms do.
It was a backwards baptism,
my childish innocence was left floating in the bath water like dead skin
and I stepped out bathed in sin.
Reborn in sin.
Seeds of sin
planted into my growing body
by the man with the face like Jesus.
**** on it like a lollipop", he said
trying to appeal to the childish innocence
that he unknowingly stole
just moments before.
I did as he said
obedient child that I was.
I didn't know the difference then
like I do now
but the difference doesn't even matter anymore.
When you plant corrupted seeds
you grow a corrupted tree.
Now I wake up with blood under my fingernails
from trying to shed the hate
branded into my skin.
Now I'm constantly fighting a civil war
between the devil and god
raging inside of me.
Now I feel guilty for who I have become
because I never knew how innocence felt.
Now my poisoned mind only knows to yield
to the sinful whispers
that float inside my head
whenever I close my eyes.
I may have lost my innocence
but I guess
I didn't lose my obedience.
"But the girl on the car in the parking lot
says, 'Man, you should try to take a shot.
Can't you see my walls are crumbling?'
Then she looks up at the building
says she's thinking of jumping
says she's tired of life.
She must be tired of something."
Oct 25, 2016
Oct 25, 2016 at 8:53 PM UTC
I found my mom’s wedding dress
in the attic the other day.
It was carelessly sprawled across dusty boxes of junk,
hiding in the corner of the room
as if it didn’t want to be noticed.
I remember it used to be beautiful.
It was once dove white
with intricate beading lavishly sewn into the bodice.
It had a full, glossy train that flowed behind her with each step she took.
It was glamorous
and expensive.
I remember she looked like an angel that day.
But it is no longer beautiful.
It lies unprotected in my attic,
vulnerable to the dust and rodents
that keep it company.
It’s color has faded to a **** yellow.
The beading is mostly scattered on the floor.
The train is frayed and torn
and I counted a few holes where the moths must
have gotten to it.
The dress is no longer glamorous.
My mom is no angel.
I found my mom’s wedding dress
in the attic the other day.
It was abandoned.
Like the rest of us.
Oct 7, 2016
Oct 7, 2016 at 11:10 PM UTC