#mental poems on Hello Poetry

Grace Haak Apr 2021

On a birthday, Coated in red: Documented

I knew it was bad when my fingernails were ringed
with red
as I ran them over ribbons and excused myself
from confetti cake to make them
redder.

my head was burning
a sparkling candle burning
my hands were yearning
a spazzing sticking yearning

my family was singing
a muffled stifling singing
my ears were ringing
a loud ear-piercing ringing

sing
ring
sting
stop stop stop my scalp is stinging

Nothing was clear until my fingernails
were red
and coated with pieces of my head:
rubbed raw and picked clean
You’re telling me
this is something you haven’t seen?

It doesn’t make sense because:
I don’t put pencils in a perfect pristine line
I don’t count my cheerios before I can dine
I can turn the lights on and off just fine
but my fingernails
are red
and apparently that’s a sign.

I can tell you where
every single pinprick lives
and spreads fire down my scalp
into my brain
How it tells me
your math homework can wait
save me
or you’ll go insane

My nails are short
but still red
My brain is intact
but still missing its head

Oh, how I could See the Disorder in a
demented disturbed decision
to forfeit my favorite vanilla cake
for blood

stop stop stop, i’m begging you, brain

you can’t stop; you know you need pain
leave me alone, and you’ll go insane.

#ocd #mental #disorder #frustration #sad #addiction #obsession

Brianca Kreeger Apr 2021

What I've Learned

For a long time I told lies to myself
“This, like all things, will pass--resolved in peace”
Shallow and external, to me I must delve
Our brains are best when they thrive off creases

Don’t flatline, but keep the rhythm steady
All chaotic tunes are written with notes
Tune your instrument, your voice, be ready
Self expression is what keeps us afloat

See good in the world and let it seep in
Only then will you know your own justice
Walk with your demons, holy in your sin
Find truth to be free from your prejudice

And most of all, keep up contradictions
We are sustained by the spark of frictions

#mental

Unpolished Ink Mar 2021

Wrecking Ball

We have to deal with the emotion
and the fear we have built up in over a year
of being inside
the internal wrecking ball we try to hide
from our nearest and our dearest
when on zoom
as we try to pretend that they are in the room
so now we get to meet in the sun
and to have a little fun, from a distance
at the insistance of the men in grey
who are supposed to be leading the way
back to reality and some form of normality
will we make it this time
climb up and out
lose the doubt and the lack of trust
I guess we must
learn to smile
but it might take a while

So pleased to see the UK out in the spring sunshine today, but it has left me really anxious because I so want it to last for everyone. Think it is going to be some time before I can trust again.

#mental #health #anxiety #covid

beckie d and the poetry Mar 2021

NO EMPATHY

I'm glad that I don't have a mental illness
Those people are an incredible drain
A drain on society
A burden to carry
Something to be cruelly thrown away
I'm glad that I don't have a mental illness
I'm glad that I am perfectly sane
I had to watch this depressing man crying on the train
I heard that he went and hung himself
That's the pathetic nature of mental health
I'm glad that isn't me
It will never be
For I am mentally healthy with not a scrap of empathy!

for i am mentally healthy with not a scrap of empathy!
🖤

#no #empathy #mental #health

Emma Elisabeth Wood Mar 2021

I Hear Voices...

I hear voices...
soft and delicate
guiding and guarding
that are mine, and mine
alone

I keep them close to my heart,
like lovers
caress them
whisper kindnesses
and promises to never betray them

and how could I?
these soft, sweet kisses from a world unknown
this loving embrace from a body
without
a
body

secrets shared in darkness
with only the flicker of a candle flame for warmth

I will keep you, sweet nothings,
mounting up to everything
that is mine, and mine alone

#mental #health #illness

Megan Mar 2021

Social Validation

Feed me meaning and resilience
The bitter sweet,
Social validation
Creeping,
With thorns around my skull

Addicted to your thought.
Addicted to a corpse.
Addicted to the stories.
Feeling under valued
Like a statue, I feel it all

Today I surrender,
And set an intention.
Be wide open
to less,
Social Validation.

hehehehehe

#social #validation #mental #addiction #depression

Horiold Steven Pango Mar 2021

Her Jinx

Jealousy
A powerful, slow curse
"It's in your head"
Mumbling truths...I rehearse
I religiously chant my lines
but it gets worse
Obsession, you are mine
in this entire universe

His5Her is a series of poems with different points of view of fictional people.

#obsession #mental #jealousy #selfrestraint

Cerasium Mar 2021

The Sorrow of Doubt

The darkness is approaching again
And it’s getting stronger than before
The pain is unbearable
The sorrow is surreal

Everyday we fight it
Everyday we succeed
But only just
And we are slowly losing the war

It creeps up on us
With only the smallest of negativity
Coming at us full force
Causing the small to feel huge

Paranoia strikes
We fear something we did was wrong
We begin to freak out
Did we mess up along the way

The self doubt begins
Telling us we’re bad
That no one likes us
No one really cares

We are just tolerated
We know this is not true
But the doubt pushes on
Causing us to question ourselves

We turn to darkness
Hiding from the light
Because we don’t want others
To see us this way

Hiding in the shadows
Putting on a brave face
Wearing laughter as a mask
We hide away the pain

Fearing that if we be true
It will become reality
Society molded us wrong
And with that caused great sorrow

Mental illness isn’t a thing
We all heard it as a child
You are too young to be depressed
Yet that’s when it all starts

We fear others
Yet we need to be close
We fear they might leave us
So I’m return we hide ourselves

Running around with a blank expression
Hiding our true selves
When will the world see
That we are all broken

No one really knows when this will be
So instead of doing something
We hide in the darkness
Waiting for the light to shine

Hoping that one day
The darkness will vanish
And we can be our true selves
In the light of day

#mental #illness #depression #fear #sorrow #pain #lost #darkness #hope #sadness

stillhuman Mar 2021

Change means light

I always saw change
holding hands with pain
I thought it was scary
and crushing
and hurtful

I thought to myself
"then just let me be
let me cuddle my demons in the darkness
let them take a hold
let them make my choices
let them keep me
in their hands
ready to disappear
no trace left behind"

Let me be abused by darkness
Let it change my thoughts
to keep me chained
to the same ones
that say I'm not good enough
and it would be easier
to just force myself awake
by bleeding out
or falling off
or shutting down

But change doesn't
mean pain in itself
It means rebirth
It means experience
It means growth
It means becoming
who you actually already are
without painful thoughts
like phantoms haunting
your days and mind
and ways of acting
and not taking care of your own self

It means learning
the value of the life
you hold in your hands
and the potential
you hold in yourself

Change doesn't mean pain
Change means light

Inspired by my latest meditation mantra.

#change #meditation #mantra #pain #selfharm #abuse #mental #unsafety #demons #darkness