I noticed that a lot of social media platforms romanticise mental illnesses...so I wrote this..
Slow Burn- JM
I scream lyrics with a sore throat.
Hold my breath until my lungs ache.
Duck myself in the swimming pool, staying under just a little too long and feeling the burn and drag of the chlorine in my eyes like the smoke from a cheap cigarette.
Pain doesn't bother me.
Or at least, it never used to.
But now, as I turn the shower hotter and hotter, watching my skin go pink, red, purple
And I go longer and longer without food and water, feeling my skull throb and my limbs get heavy
I stick on a fake smile and feel the prick of satisfaction bead blood from my gums
I dry my eyes, feeling my calloused fingertips cause friction over the most sensitive parts of my skin
I get up early and eat healthy but the magazines lie because the opposite is true
My dry skin flakes and my hair falls out
I wear hoodies and jeans, day in, day out but the frostbite is relentless because I shiver while everyone else sunbathes.
The media lies, Depression is just sadness, just cutting, just crying
But it's not just that
It's being surrounded by people but still feeling alone
Being full of hot food but still feeling empty and cold.
Being in a warm bed but still unable to sleep
Wearing thick, good quality clothes, but still feeling vulnerable and cheap
Depression is all of these things
It's an unseen monster hiding just under your skin
It surfaces and envelops you
Dragging you into the pits of hell
Burning you alive
But what everyone doesn't notice is that the burning can be subtle
Because all they look for is the smoke
YOU ARE READING
sunflowers and steel chains
Poetry"He's sunflowers and steel chains New scars compensating for old pain The sun's shining but he's facing the other way He's quiet, he don't know what to say" warning: this book contains the unfiltered thoughts of a young man using words as his therap...
