Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
No mind left behind
No-one left deprived
Of love and joy and song
And knowing we belong
See mind.org.uk for more information. It's time to talk.
Graeme 18h
I feel like I live in an infinite void of nothingness. Between the vast worlds that I remain The Observer to. I’ve been in so many things, but never fully committed, be it by my own volition or external circumstances. Perhaps no one has and the continuity and consistency I seek is all an illusion generated by my limited presence in the spaces I transiently call home in a desperate attempt to belong to things that I feel deep down I simply can’t. Do I know it to be certain, or is it merely faulty—unhealthy—subconscious programming? I wish I knew.
I have so much potential—I sincerely know it; I see it every day. Yet, despite this, I remain a car in fifth gear, wheels spinning in winter’s freezing, putrid slush, and remain stationary as I drain all my energy, rocking back and forth across the slippery driveway.
Like my body and brain—like me—my devices’ batteries seem to drain too quickly; where’d all that time and energy go? Yet, Time seems to firmly drag me along through an eternity, moment to moment, when pain strikes me with its sour, sharp, and nearly all-penetrating hand.
The evening sunlight sure does look pretty out the window and coming in onto the walls, though. That’s something.
A group walks by. By no means a popular group–not that popularity matters much–but they, despite the game of Society stacking most odds against them, have found their people: each other. These geeks that pass by the window are happy despite this, and though I may have traits that set me apart from them, I remain set apart from near everyone else.
I fear, from the deeply-rooted subconscious program from a childhood of my depth and passions never being understood, much cared for, or even acknowledged, that those who are near to me cannot fully see it. I know they love me; no question there despite the doubts creeping in. The programming renders both nearly impossible to feel. Spectacular.
Written on 2025-02-05.

This was written while sitting in an empty conference room on my university’s campus, watching the world go by out the windows and the pretty evening sunlight hit the wall to my right that lifted my spirits after a hard few days of physical pain from chronic illness and the havoc it and attempting to recover from it wreaked on my life as of the few days prior to writing this.
This could very well have been only a diary entry, but I chose not to make it so. I suppose I did so because the part of me that felt compelled to shout my suffering to the world won out slightly over in mental diplomatic strife than the side that preferred it stay private.
You strike a matchstick
and name it hope—
watch the flame gnaw
its own tail, a hungry ouroboros.

Your hands tremble like cities
under siege.
The skyline cracks, a porcelain plate
held together by spider silk.

We are all archaeologists here,
digging through ash
for the bones of who we swore
we’d become.

Some nights, the moon is a pill
that won’t dissolve.
You swallow it anyway,
let its cold light pool in your ribs.

The world is a fever dream,
but listen—
even wildfires leave behind
soil thick with tomorrow.

So let your heart be a dandelion:
ugly, stubborn,
and impossibly
easy to love.
Inspiration: Combines existential urgency (a "burning world") with intimate resilience, blending natural imagery and mental health metaphors. The poem mirrors modern anxieties but leans into hope as an act of defiance.

Key Elements:

Ouroboros metaphor: The flame eating itself reflects cycles of destruction/rebirth and self-sabotage.

Urban decay vs. nature: "Cities under siege" and "porcelain plate" contrast with organic imagery (dandelions, wildfires).

Medicalization of coping: The moon as an undissolved pill critiques how society medicates existential pain.

Archaeology of self: Digging through "ash" to find lost versions of identity.

Dandelion symbolism: Represents overlooked strength and the beauty of persistence.

Structure: Free verse with short, punchy stanzas. Enjambment creates urgency, while the final quatrain offers a resolving, mantra-like closure.
Rose blood red,
Pricked my finger,
Now the feeling's trapped in my head.

I think it felt okay,
But that's not okay,
I'll save my silly thoughts,
So you know I'm okay.
Really sad today, I don't know why.
All the words
that never left my mouth
creep through my veins
filling the hollows of my mind
and my lungs with stone
encasing the very essence of me
in lead

weighing me down
as the murky depths
of a world
that never knew
I was drowning
beckons
As I grow older
There were more big problems
Overshadowing the small ones
And so I stopped tending to those small things

Like brushing teeth
Or going for walks
Or bathing
Or eating
Or sleeping

Huh… I think I might be dying
Under great stress, people sometimes forget to take care of themselves. So if you’re one of these people, take a short break and drink water or go for a walk around your neighbourhood. These might seem small, but they’re still important.
Graeme 5d
I get lost in my work.
Hungry again, I note.
The cycle restarts.
Better this time, I hope.

I find some good food,
Making sure to choose carefully,
And snag my water,
An essential, soon, you’ll see.

I avert my gaze—
I fear they’re all eyeing me—
And sit myself down
For a ritual eternity.

Many meals are Hell;
My body a warzone.
What you’ve learned to nurture so
Still hates you to the bone.

I accept this task I must master;
‘Twas not a choice I made.
It’ll stick with me for life;
‘Cause it’s one my genes gave.

The first taste is bliss,
But most bites bring pain quickly.
Size portions correctly;
So tired of feeling sickly.

Pain sears my throat,
So, I chew with vigor.
The swelling is fast;
I pray my water’s quicker.

The drink spells relief,
But every bite’s anxious,
Every swallow torment;
Each pause between captious.

Another meal unfinished; bitter defeat,
The peace remains unreachable.
I craved it so badly, and I was so close,
Now it looks repulsive; uneatable.

I check the scale once more,
So, skinny I remain;
Been mocked and critiqued
For weight, unable to gain.

I am Sisyphus ‘til sated,
The table is my hill,
Sustenance my stone,
And my mind is my will.

I get lost in my work.
Hungry again, I note.
The cycle restarts.
Better this time, I hope.
Written on 2023-09-18. This is inspired by the struggles I face during parts of nearly every meal because I have a chronic disease affecting my eating. My throat and esophagus swell up when my body accidentally identifies food as a harmful foreign invader, making it tender. Swallowing becomes painful, ang eating becomes an agonizing process.
It doesn’t take much

One sad song
    one not even meant to be sad
One bittersweet moment
    one not meant to linger
One small fragment of a feeling
    one that I meant to let go

I don’t want to keep it
I never looked for it
I never sought it out
    it doesn’t care
I do everything I can to avoid it
    it doesn’t care
T.v, music, books
    it doesn’t care

Hours of nothing
Just to make it leave
    if only for a moment
I avoid, distract, ignore
Hoping that if I can make it feel forgotten it will be
    that it will leave

It doesn’t care
    it doesn’t go away
Instead it creeps closer
    it touches my chest
And sinks deeper

That’s where it stays

So heavy that I can’t feel anything else
    can’t focus on what I know is there but can’t find

My mind doesn’t understand it
Doesn’t understand how it can affect everything
Keep my eyes from seeing everything else
    everything that’s important
    and should feel that way
Doesn’t understand how it can change what I remember
    add a lens through which I can only see it where it wasn’t before

It wasn’t always there
    was it?

All the while it hasn’t made a sound
    it doesn’t need to make a noise
    for it to be so loud that it’s all I can hear
It doesn’t take much
KarmaPolice Jan 28
His senses hold him prisoner,  
Overwhelmed and alone.  
The walls are his burden;  
The light, too much to bear.  

The soaked linen of yesterday’s news,  
Stained with fear from battles before—  
An old uniform hangs alone,  
Boots polished beside paper awards.  

Headlights cast broken shadows,  
Each a spectre of the past.  
Empty scotch bottles and cigarette burns  
Mark a slow crawl to solitude.  

Light burns through a slither 
His heart beats through the walls.  
Strangled by the sirens  
That triggered him before.  

He needs to be cradled,  
Yet no hand reaches for him.  
He sways back and forth,  
A pendulum of grief.  

Screams, muted by paralysis;  
Silence pervades the void.  
Fractured by a rasping breath  
And a crescendo of emotions.  

The warning bells pass—  
They did not come for him.  
His fragile breath of sorrow  
Whispers to an empty room.  

By Darren Wall ©
I previously published this under Sirens (Alternative), but I wanted to try and grab the readers attention better.
Next page