TRIGGER WARNING!
This website contains poetry and true stories about trauma, personality disorders, suicidal thoughts, self-harming, depression and other significant mental health issues, as well as personal stories of emotional neglect and physical and sexual abuse, which some people might find disturbing.
"Poetry for Mental Health was formed at the outbreak of Covid; helping people cope mentally by inspiring them to write poetry. Five years, five books, hundreds of poets, and thousands of pieces of poetry later, we are still inspiring people to write poetry for positive mental health! With around 1200 visitors each and every month, Poetry for Mental Health is now probably the largest and most visited website for poetry and mental health on the net!"
PLEASE DONATE - Poetry for Mental Health is run voluntarily. It receives no funding or grants so please donate just £10.00 (GBP) / $15.00 (USD) to help us continue support others by promoting and publishing poetry for mental health. Press the DONATE button for £10.00 (GBP), or the PayPal button for a larger amount.
Thank you!
ROBIN BARRATT
Founder POETRY FOR MENTAL HEALTH
"No matter what your age, background and experience, culture or identity; whether an established writer with many published titles to your credit, or an aspiring poet who has never written a word of poetry in your life, our philosophy here is to embrace, welcome and support everyone, everywhere suffering from mental health challenges, and help you cope through words and poetry ...
Get writing!"
15/10/2024
OBSOLETE CLICHÉ
By Vatsala Radhakeesoon
When at 5, your mum dropped you at
primary school and on the first day you still cried,
a bossy teacher grabbed your hand
and pointed at the round-faced girl
whose pigtails looked neat
and cheeks all-dry,
you felt her big teeth- grin was placid, dull
but to the eyes of adults was framed brave;
You felt something within your behaviour
sank-shrank
At 12, when you battled Vitiligo whims,
during recess-time, a few friends bullied you
with their sharp knifed- lines,
“grey streaked -hair and old wrinkled cow-skin,
no boyfriend to catch the eyes”,
you hid yourself in the classroom,
stopped playing
and preferred dreaming in pop music magazines;
You felt something in your body
sank-shrank
As an adult, amidst a management training session,
you rushed to the wash-room,
glanced at yourself in the mirror
and let the tears well down your faded dimples,
“That job is not for me, All Money, No Humanity”,
you let the voice in you yell;
You felt something in your mind
sank -shrank
You became a writer,
and when you joined a group of authors
for book signing sessions,
you thought that was where you belonged,
but their intellectual show off or egos
coupled with 21st century social media’s
self-hero worshipping
and their thirst for fame, name, money
and no shame,
labelled you as “too sensitive, engrossed in your trauma”;
You said it was a cry for help
but they shrugged, priding their better worth;
You felt something in your heart
sank-shrank
All throughout life stages, pinpointed as
the HSP* and the society blaming you as some
weak, cowardice -sin,
you finally became who you were meant to be
Now,
You walk alone,
You work individually,
You create depth in your solitary refuge,
Yet you always stand up for the ones
sincerely in need of help,
You feel the pain of all,
even the ones who once hurt you,
You bear no grudge
You no longer carry the obsolete cliché
of sensitivity being insane,
You go on,
You are unstoppable
You are an empath.
* HSP – Highly Sensitive Person
ABOUT THE POEM: "Being an HSP from childhood to adulthood, I have often been reproached by many people of being “too sensitive " and they have advised me to be tough skin. Thus, till my early 30s I kept believing being highly sensitive was a flaw and that gave me some inferiority complex. However, my whole perception of myself changed after I read the book , The Highly Sensitive Person by the clinical research psychologist and author, Elaine Aron. In that book, the writer emphasizes that we should consider being an HSP as a quality and channel it in the right direction in our daily lives. I have written this poem based on my own personal experiences and for other HSPs who have crossed my path."
ABOUT VATSALA: Vatsala has been writing poems for more than 30 years and she is the author of numerous poetry books. She is also an abstract artist and likes to experiment various possibilities that bless Art. Vatsala is a literary translator and currently lives at Rose-Hill, Mauritius.
On the themes of mental health, from poets around the world.
Poetry by: Vatsala Radhakeesoon, Martin Embree, Dan Healy, Tadgh Quill-Manley, Reuben Scott, Paulette Hampton, Dr Sabrina Rubin, Bella Hope Smith, Lindsay Walter, Dale "Coyote" Johnson, Alexander A. Henning, Emma Welch, Sophie Squires, Chris McClelland, Sasha Irwin, Faiqa Ali Chughtai, Hari Berrow, Victoria Fitzgerald, Andrea Mitchell, Mohammed Ali, Chad Boucher, Zack Benz, Jordan Claeys, Nicole Crossno, Valentina Fulginiti, Ethan Boyd, Heidi Hildeman, Oscar Lozano, Addie Suter, Dionne Risley, David M White, PhD, Melissa W. Sorgi, Kyra Merryman, Riley M. Frank, Hilary Canto, Amelia May Hart, Reese, Anneli Knight, Keila Cruz, Bhagvati Patel, Amber Roeder, Cynthia Foss, April Bulmer, Chelsea Garcia, Trish Lundy, Divya Paliwal, Jeanette Stephenson. Luke Preston, Autumn Johnson, Amy Harris, Braxsen Sindelar, Kristen Moody, Sindy Stern, Sam Hendrian, Deby Cedars, Kiran Harrar, William Gray , Tim Boardman, Jason Kirk Bartley, Ruben Smith, Crystal Hall, Diane Kennedy, Phil Griffiths, Nadine Dunseith, Cynthia Foss, Titan Sanchez, Alex Turner, Brielle Hoban, Aviva Lilith, Spruce Craft, Frea Wooten, Rosalynn Gildart, April Bartaszewicz, Prudence Sage Massaria, Howa Ramadan, Brodeigh Pearce, Annie Walsh, Charity Louise, Sasha Pavlovic, Haley Headrick, Trisha Lawty, Noor Yousif, Hannah Louise MacFarlane, Anthony Lanza, Basil Kaye, Malachy Mackel, G.S. Yarbro, Sanda Ristić Stojanović, Bobby Z, Binod Dawadi, Fredua A .Boateng, C.W. Blackburn, James Aitchison, Eshaal Asim, Anthony Lanza, Natalie Hussey, Kiran Harrar, Gary Shulman, Abraham Aruguete, Johnathan Eldridge, Faith Graham, Amanda Sharon Hancock, Garima Sachdev Kapoor, Rita McDermott, Shahida Seedat, Jose Manoj Mathews T, Farblos Artem, Jennifer L. Alukonis, Thomas Oddie, Tricia Lloyd Waller, Lisa Anderson, Himanshu Ahuja, K. Weber and Mary Bone.
Click on the covers for further details of ALL our titles. With thousands of contributions from hundreds of writers and poets around the world, our anthologies are probably some of the largest collections on mental health ever published. Please buy a copy -
ALL profits from the sales of our titles go towards promoting poetry for positive mental health.
“Poetry can be mind-bogglingly confusing or ever-so simple. It can be several pages of complicated verse, or just a few simple, easy-to-read words. But one thing we know for sure is that poetry is a story, a journey, or indeed a statement, and this is created by a careful composition of words and structure, with a sole purpose of evoking strong feeling or emotion. Poetry is about form (however that is defined), purpose, and establishing your voice.”
In their own words, poets and writers write about their own personal journey with mental health.
Poetry for Mental Health chats to writers and poets about their journey with mental health.
Featuring over 70 individual poets with up to six pieces of their work and a little about the author, and the stories behind their poem/s..
New for 2024!!!
Our
NEW
Poetry for Mental Health magazine featuring poetry on the topics and themes of mental health from writers and poets around the world, as well as lots of poetry writing advice, tips & techniques, articles, essays, poet profiles, personal stories, and a forthcoming regular poetry competition!
"Probably the only magazine in the world exclusively dedicated to poetry for mental health!"
"People can benefit from writing poetry because it can take the images and the talk in your head and transfer it to paper. It’s like getting the words out of your head so that they don’t linger there."
Nadine Dunseith (contributor)
Directory of Support Services
Charities, groups and organisations worldwide offering mental health help and support to people in crisis.
Mental Health First Aid
Identifying warning signs of common mental health crisis, and how to guide a person towards safety and appropriate help. Read more ...
Poetry Writing Course
A FREE course for anyone, anywhere wanting to use words and poetic verse for the first time to help them express how they think and feel.
Poetry for Mental Health provides a fast, inexpensive way of getting your poetry collection independently self-published in paperback and Kindle - via your own Amazon KDP platform - and distributed globally. If you have a manuscript that you would like to independently self-publish, but not sure how, or don't have the time, depending upon where you are in the world, we might be able to help. We have helped publish over 100 books for authors and poets worldwide! CLICK HERE for further details.
Be kept updated with our news and calls for submissions, or CLICK HERE to send us a message.
QUICK LINKS
CONTACT
THANK YOU to the following people who have donated to Poetry For Mental Health: John Zurn, Sandra Rollins, Braxsen Sindelar, Caroline Berry, Sage Gargano, Gabriel Cleveland, April Bartaszewicz, Patricia Lynn Coughlin, Hilary Canto, Jennifer Mabus, Chris Husband, Dr Sarah Clarke, Eva Marie Dunlap, Sheri Thomas, Andrew Stallwood, Stephen Ferrett, Craig Davidson, Joseph Shannon Hodges, John Tunaley, and Patrick Oshea.