Best Mental Illness Poems

Sarah’s Story - Mental Illness

Sarah, the “Crazy Lady,” was a familiar sight,
roaming the streets any time of day or night.
Her foul body odor announced her presence,
as she paraded around in her filthy, smelly garments. 
Walking barefoot regardless of the weather,
in her state of mind, she...

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i sit lonely. 

the crowded restaurant is thick with sound 

i pick away at it 

moving back into the stagnant silence 
of my own comfort

the air is nasty here 
it telepathically abuses my thought patterns

still 
a far cry better 
the loud hum of food 
marching...

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My mind is a puzzle of cryptic metaphors.
whilst searching for my sanity,
I've become my own worst enemy.
In this cauldron of despair,
time is like sand in my hand -
an oxymoron poetic 
paradox of cruel compassion. 

Sadistic green eyes bring my demise,
as my sighs are captured by...

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*Had to bring this one back. Like my Poe poem, this one follows me wherever I go. It is my favorite lyric that I've written thus far. It is loosely based on a real person and deals with the issues of mental illness and homelessness....

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Silence Felled

Lurking in dark corners
The swamp stirs in the night
As the deceiver rises
Begging to share his illusions might

Only behind the veil
Does he let his murky words sail
Deceiving the lady of the house
While he runs like a little mouse

He drinks a mans ale
Then double crosses once...

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Last year, her imagination went double
so she ignored her previous schedule.
She put all her dreams inside of clear jars,
decorated with different, assorted stars.

She believed if she always kept things rounded
she would also succeed in keeping life grounded,
So, she would circle every found square
believing it demonstrated...

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"Marionette of Flesh in a Borrowed Dress"
- Daniel Henry Rodgers

The hourglass, 
a skeletal jester 
mocks in the tomb's chill
Each falling grain an emaciated sigh, 
"Soon you'll cease to be."
The mirror's cold reflection, 
a Gorgon's ghastly guise
A marionette of flesh with vacant... 
hollow...
colorless eyes.

The worms, like...

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Can't stop flashbacks
Can't stop vibrations
Vibrations like echoes
Vibrations irritating wounds
Wounds that bleed
Wounds that torment
Torment the mind
Torment emotions
Emotions of guilt
Emotions full of anger
Anger from the past
Anger from shame
Shame that's distressing
Shame that's intrusive
Intrusive images haunt
Intrusive like storms
Storms striking like lightning
Storms louder than thunder
Thunder that's frightening
Thunder causing self-destruction
Self-destruction of...

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"laugh and the world laughs with you,
cry and you cry alone"

how true and sad these words once penned
for this I've learned, yet learn again
that when I bloom and smile with glee
the world and life will laugh with me
I'm not alone....never alone
the joy is not for...

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He speaks metaphorically to avoid dealing direct, 
shows the unknown hand he’s against too much respect, 
writes about his bravery though it’s no where to detect
or talks in the third person like this I'd expect.

Going on about himself like it’s happening to someone else,
distanced from...

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(A parody of the Modern Major-General's Song from "The Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert and Sullivan.)

I am the very model of a very stable genius.
Compared to mine all others’ ...brains... are positively weeny; yes,
My grasp of science, history, and law is astronomical.
No need to read;...

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Winnie, wild-eyed, went insane
and sang “Happy Birthday” in the rain, 
while she washed away her bloody pain.

Now all day long she sings that song,
she sings it loud, she sings it strong,
walled in where she does not belong.

For not unlike her maddened mind,
her bony body’s been...

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symptom spectrum script
                               dosing who knows what roulette

       ...

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I rise at the center of...
Is it a room? This is a face.
There is motion, too fast, too clamorous.
Cryptic and opaque. Shapes shift
into my field of view.
Recognize! The message spoken
ends in an upward curve.
Interpret! It means a question

?       ...

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To Daddy, Mama, Billy-Bro, Punky and Massachusetts....


Glazed, deep snow, virgin crunched under my aimless walk
as I idle rambled onward through a vacant, bare-treed park.
Sun was so high that its brightness flashed sparkling pastels.
Fleeting blue spots danced randomly and surrounded me
with images of us until old...

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