Depression Poems
questions
by gabriella BlakeThese songs used to make me cry. I’d listen to cry. To feel. They’ve lost that effect. They’ve taken all my tears. Do you ever listen? Do you ever cry. Do you associate me and us with those songs. Do certain moment replay in your head. Do you freeze, do you break, do you burn. Or have you paved over those memories with new ones. Do you change the station, or listen, to feel. Or has the numbness kept you silent, sitting with a straight face, without a second thought.
Continue readingPublic Clocks
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
At first his anger was hotter than July
Or, rather, he was plundered by the weight of
Sorrow —heavier than the ice of January;
The kind of stolid ice that thickened Niagara Falls
Like frozen soup.
He was tall and lissome, bespectacled, in
Dark suits, a brown hat, worn-out shoes of fraternity.
A folded umbrella accompanied him like a touring child.
No wristwatch.
He doesn’t wear them.
......
Silence
by Md. Kausar Uddin Ahmed
There are days
When the mind is a crowded street,
The heart a locked room,
And yet,
The mouth stays shut.
Cause you don’t want to speak?
No, no, no,
Cause no alphabet you know
Can carry this heaviness without breaking.
......
Addicts Blood
by Mariah Odom
as a girl i was taught lesson one: love was the only thing that was gonna save me,
as my mom closed every prayer with “please bring a good husband for my baby”
you’ll find your worth in being wanted, dreams mean nothing with no one next to you so first you find a man and the rest will come eventually
lesson 2: no drugs, don’t drink, steer clear of any vices
poor daddy left his apathy, his family, and his sanity all for the high he couldn’t stop chasing
addict’s in your blood no turning back once you’re lost,
plus boys won’t like a druggie, nobody wants a baggage cost
child those little white lines won’t cure your emptiness, you’ll just ride some lifts and lows,
but open arms will make you whole, you’re not depressed you’re just lonely
a good romance will heal your soul
......
Between your pain and my ability to ease it lies a million broken promises.
by Sisekelo & Lindelwa Simelane & Manana
Between your pain and my ability to ease it, lies a thousand broken promises waiting for Bob the builder, can he fix this?
You pull your hair often, sometimes I can't tell if you're frustrated or just in pain. You've had needles treat you like a best friend and sometimes a one night stand, it's supposed to hurt less but instead the drugs no longer work, you cry the same each time the doctor says turn, I guess practice makes prefect wasn't made only to get into your pants. Princess, you don't wear your crown no more, apparently it glitters and your soul's so tired, we could mistake it for anything but gold. You proudly took it off, now you walk with your head tilted as though to assure you that there's no glow, but sometimes you walk past a mirror and swear you see a halo. You trip a lot, sometimes on little stones but mostly on empty promises, when the air is thick with enough lies, you start to breathe, I think you feed off of negative energies, or maybe they are positive to your inner enemies. You've had about two decent conversations, one about how you cried last night, the other about how those tears never came out, you're lost in blue forests and green skies, waiting for thunderstorms that come in rays of sunlight. I think I've said enough, that's what I say when you ask me for advice because by then I realise that you'd be running back to square one. Between your pain and my ability to ease it lies a million untold stories that keep us broken, I'm waiting on our heart to open, maybe the wound can be healed once they realise it's open.
I remember waking up in a panic yesterday because for some reason the nightmare seemed like a nightmare for the first time in a long while. I cannot remember the last time my nightmares became nightmares, for the first time in a long time I saw you in them, I don't know if it was your presence or was it the million broken promises I've made to you that have come home to roost, either way I don't like it. I saw you standing there and our old friend procrastination sold me the idea that you'll be there even after my many obligations. Soon as I bought that idea I had to watch you walk away. It seemed as if I had given up on you without actually letting go because part of me hoped that I'd see you smile again. Probably the craziest thing I saw in this nightmare was the blue forests and green skies that you once talked about, I was amazed at the beauty you failed to relay to me. I remember taking a deep breath in the dream and it felt more like home as negativity was airborne and her particles were like little knives that ripped through nasal passages like the kids in their GTI's tear through the highway. As I was dealing with these little knives that gave me unmeasured pleasure, depression came around to collect her taxes, she left a message for you for when and if you come back. I realised that your pain could never be alleviated regardless of my ability to, and for some weird reason I'm happy with that.
Silence
by Md. Kausar Uddin Ahmed
There are days
When the mind is a crowded street,
The heart a locked room,
And yet,
The mouth stays shut.
Cause you don’t want to speak?
No, no, no,
Cause no alphabet you know
Can carry this heaviness without breaking.
......
Echo Chamber
by Jonathan Goff
Echo Chamber
I.
I said it out loud.
The monitor blinked twice.
Then flatlined my name.
II.
A scalpel cuts deep–
Body splayed open like sky.
......
Rectify
by Jonathan Goff
The goat man said, "It's the beauty, not the ugly, that hurts the most."
For the blind man sees and tells no tales
of burning bush and carnal reds.
Feel the freak rise up to pound the night,
then turn and, beaming with delight, behold
the stars like diamonds scattered in his wake.
Fire the freaks who lay their dirty paws
......
A Study in Scarlet
by Jonathan Goff
Act 1: Reckoning
Vinyl burns February skin.
A sticky valentine.
Handprint heat echoes
on cracked windows.
Your breath--
half prayer,
half epitaph.
Demons of the night
Dressed like angels,
......
Singularity
by Jonathan Goff
They flee from me.
They change course
to avoid my pull.
Even light itself
recoils
at the edge of me.
Still—
everything falls.
Eventually.
And I open wide.
......
