Table of Contents
Empty
I lay for weeks with no emotion,
Lethargic, tiered with no end in sight.
I was numb, waiting for some explosion,
Yet there was nothing except endless dark nights.
Food came in droves to comfort me,
Bingeing became a friend, giving company.
Texts left unread as a silent plea,
Internal thoughts becoming a reality.
The nothingness felt all consuming.
Life became slow, long and paining.
Why am I here? There’s no point, I was presuming.
The sadness inside me always reigning.
Conception
When writing a poem about my own mental health illnesses, I used the words to express my darkest experiences. I used the page as a blank canvas to say exactly how I was feeling. Often the original draft whilst paying some homage to the complete piece is reworked into suitable stanzas and where appropriate rhyming couplets.
Mostly thoughts will come to me sporadically when emotions are flying high. I’ve always been the type of person to jot down my sadness, anger or disappointment and often these scattered notes will form telling themes for poems.
There may be instances in which I write an entire poem in one frenzied hour, based on a single emotion. However, often when I return to the notes on my phone it becomes apparent the similar emotions I have been feeling in a particular week or month which ultimately becomes the main theme of the poem.
Examples Of Turning What You Feel Into Lines
This poem stemmed from a particular period in life in which I had a lot of jottings about being numb and extremely low. Writing this from those scattered notes not only helped me express myself yet often helped others gain a little insight into my situation.
If I were to give you a couple of examples of where the current poem has stemmed from, it would be from these two phone notes below;
“I don’t feel anything anymore customers at work annoy me and I can’t be bothered to speak with them I just feel frustrated and empty.”
“Today I burst into tears for no particular reason other than I don’t feel like I belong in this world. I got sent home from work and basically ate my emotions in chocolate and then I felt like crap for bingeing.”
Getting Your Emotions Out
As you can see from the above notes, when I’m writing these, punctuation and vocabulary are a distant thought. What I’m focusing on is getting my emotions out of my system and just writing how I feel.
When I looked at these notes at a later date with a more level and creative head, I could see what my underlying emotions were at the time.
For this particular poem, I found that these notes screamed feeling empty, yet consumed of hopelessness. I also picked out key points such as ‘bingeing’ and how life had become challenging.
Editing A Poem
These emotions alongside the key experiences I picked out ultimately develop the poem into what you see now.
Overall, I typically write what I feel and then re-work the piece until I am happy with it.
This may entail looking for more descriptive or appropriate words, changing lengths of stanzas or editing punctuation to create a particular effect.
Motivation
Additionally, poetry allows me to see how far I have come or regressed since a particular period as to me they are almost like a written picture holding my emotions.
Steps To Writing Your Poem
If you were to consider writing a poem my best advice would be;
1. Write about your own experiences
2. Recognise everything doesn’t need to rhyme
3. Remember, sometimes they don’t always work out.
4. Write notes about poignant memories that have made you feel a particular way.
5. Write in a poem style you feel comfortable with from acrostic to haikus there’s a type for everyone.
I hope these tips help you express yourself in your own poetry or creative writing. Try not to put pressure on yourself and remember to write for YOU, not an audience.
Author Bio
Hi, my name is Victoria. I run a blog called www.VictoriaJiju.com. Differently to this post, my content on Victoria Jiju focuses on positivity and self–help. I still use poetry to help me cope with my bad days and like to share it on blogs tailored to that particular type of content. If you pop over to my blog you‘ll be sure to find content that will hopefully prevent you from ever feeling like I did in my poem.