Writing poetry

[GoldenSquid]

TW: talk of violence and knife crime

I've been struggling dealing with an attack from a few years ago and I figured poetry might help me to vent and express my thoughts. So I’ve had a go at a couple of poems about what happened and how it’s been affecting me. Any thoughts on these two poems would be greatly appreciated, I’m no poet really so they are nothing special but are helping me to process.

Stan is not a friend:

A long day at work
Stressed to the top
I’ll have a few drinks
Don’t know when to stop

Should I go home?
I’m alone, not a single friend
Well I can make a few
I go out in the end

Start with a pint
Watch the football
Call myself a taxi
Out out after all

Stood in the queue
Do I look sad?
Going out by myself
Isn’t all that bad?

Beers turn to rum
Cider becomes whiskey
I meet someone new
Things are going to get frisky

Their name is Stan
They introduce me to their clan
We bust a groove
I make a move
Stan is nice
I’m living my life
They’re dressed in red
I’m going to get in their bed
Let’s go, they said
So off we head

We get to their home
Now I really feel alone
Why am I here?
It rises, the fear
I say I want to leave
Stan says no, please
Stan wants to play
I need to get away
Then Stan pulls it out
And starts to shout
Stanley’s here now

Stan was alright
Stanley wants a fight
What can I do?
I won’t hit someone new
Now it’s too late
I accept my fate
I pray for my life
As Stanley is a knife

I want a new remote:

You’ve been the remote control to my life
You pause
You silence my happiness
You increase the volume of anxiety
You change the channel back to horrors which are always on repeats
You switch on and off whenever you want

Sometimes I forget where you are but you always seem to turn up
Sometimes when I’m alone
Sometimes when I’m asleep
Sometimes when I’m the happiest I could be
Sometimes when I’m watching something else.
You turn up again.

I try to turn you off
I try to remove the batteries
I try getting a new remote
I try all the buttons I can
I try. I try. I’ve tried.
I want a new remote.

They're really powerful. I can feel your struggles. I particularly love the second one as it's a style simlar to my own - a conversation with someone else.

I use poems for exactly the same reasons. I put aside creative writing for many years and the only time I let myself do it was when I couldn't find another way to let my emotions out. Over the last couple of years that has become very frequent as I realised I was in an emotionally abusive relationship and eventualyl left it. It has really helped, and a couple of times recently my go to has been to write a poem in the moment, instead of self-harming which was how I used to deal with it.

Agree with PP that these are powerful. You’ve clearly lived the words, if that makes sense, and I’m sorry you’re struggling. I hope writing has been cathartic for you, it is for me. Having a creative outlet is a really good way to vent, well done for sharing, it takes a lot of guts.