Maladaptive Poems | Examples

List of Member Poems

8th Grade

Feeling like a fool whenever you’re near
My heart bleeds a melody that you can’t hear
I’m stuck in a battlefield chasing the sun
A war has begun that you’ve already won

I may be naive.. but I’m never wrong 
Maybe the lyrics are too heavy in my song
Our worlds can’t collide in the way that I want 
Our age gap alone would be something to taunt

It’s a blessing and a curse to carry this tune
Maladaptive daydreaming, alone in my room
A chaos of fantasies and delusions anew
My adolescent mind on a path so untrue

Toxic instability, I’m acting immature
A pillar of intellect, you’ve got me insecure
I’m hungry for your body or something more impure
I don’t know what love is, I just know the allure

Maladaptive Daydreams

I unplug myself from reality;
Dissociate myself from everything.
Put my body on aeroplane mode
To go back to the daydreams and delusions
Just so I could feel something.
But when I return I always find everything shattered 
And so I try to pick everything up 
And get back on track
Only to find I've lost everything in me.
The bits and pieces I've tried to connect 
Were long gone before I knew.
Hallucinations, dreams and reality
Look all the same to me.
No longer able to tell them apart
I lose, once again, every sense of reality 
Just to be an empty vessel numbed with nothingness.

Maladaptive

Everyone was begging me to do something about my anxiety.

So I got into meditation.

So I mediate every day.

It was all on them.

Then it was all mine.

Forever, all mine.

As sad as it is,

It gets less daunting over time.

And more like- 

This is heavenly.

And more like-

I will live forever if I keep this up.

For hours and hours,

Then more hours.

Then weeks go by, and it’s like-

I don’t know what a week means anymore.

I can’t remember what makes me weak, or what makes me strong.

But it’s all good, it’s all healthy.

And I don’t complain anymore.

And they don’t complain anymore.


The Wall That's Built

There’s a wall that’s built.
As you portray no guilt.
Corruptive void of events unseen.
Parental alienation; as you act like a teen.
Sipping on a tall Jim Beam.
As you unfolded your game of poker.
There’s a wall that you built.
Through the lies and charade.
You perform the Joker.
Incapable of negotiation.
Full of hateful spite.
A man full of lies.
With morphed perception of deranged sight.
There’s a wall that you built.
Where you hurt with daggers of emotional distress.
A sick twisted game of maladaptive chess.

Maladaptive Daydreaming

A hand full of bliss,
with life’s contentment, I 
woke up desolate.

Yen In Reverse

Two finger salute
They do a little dance
Gotta wash your hands
Two finger salute
Chew a piece of gum
Freshen up some
Two finger salute
Maladaptive solution
For a funhouse illusion
Two finger salute
I saw you through a mirror
Late in the night
Staring at myself so long
I saw through to the other side
You were combing your hair
You were brushing your teeth
I picture you reading in the den
With some food on the table
Picking up your pen
And writing
After a two finger salute


An Alien Came To My Room

A knock on the door, and once more,
                               An alien outside, I could not ignore;
                            He entered my room with the little plea
                               First, the loo and next a cup of tea.

                                 He was green and three feet tall,
                                He had a spunky face, tail and all;
                              He finished the tea with flailing ears,
                              Laughed awhile and burst into tears.

                          He looked at me with twenty vacant eyes,
                          There was a vapor of distant green skies,
                        He pinched my nose and squeezed my hips,
                          And brushed my hair with fish and chips.

                           Seemingly, the alien was maladaptive,
                     He ran out of the house and reeled in a peeve;
                        He strode to the field and leaving no trace
               The wobbly rocket pierced through the mysterious space.

Eternal Tomb of Stones

The master of illusion and confusion has arrived 
And soon he will invade the many facets of your mind. 
A shaker and a shaman who will find all things contrived 
To strip you of your sanity and leave his seed behind. 

Appearing from the ether of your often foggy dreams, 
Believer and deceiver in the ancient mysteries; 
A planner with a purpose who will implement his schemes 
To overwhelm your stilted soul and steal realities. 

Seen always in the shadows of  Man's rationality 
This specter stands alone atop his putrid bloodstained throne; 
You suddenly are sickened by his beastiality,
But fear to walk the talk through life with flesh fillet'd to bone. 

Contagion of collusion brings eternity of hate 
To stand before the altar stone's malevolent disgrace.
He claims your destination will fulfill a brutal fate;
Compassion not denoted on his maladaptive face.

Awaken from the wretched dark and dreaded dreams of night
To gaze upon finality's sarcophagus of stones.
And soon you are aware the dreams you dream to his delight,
Will cast out not one demon marrowed well witihin your bones.

Rhetorical Questioning

rhetorical questioning 
deliberately thrown 
aimed bellow the belt
meant to hurt 
meant to injure 
meant to wound 
meant to sting
all in the name 
of dramatic affect 
used as a means 
of getting the intended 
point across within 
this play of swings 
in mood upon the 
maladaptive stage 
of this unhealthy 
realm of reality in 
which we lived

Guilty

guilty until
proven innocent
never once
innocent until
proven guilty 
seemed to be    
the standard
practice within 
this maladaptive 
relationship 
guilty verdicts 
pilled up within
the heart 
till one day 
there was 
no space 
left over for 
love to reside
anymore it 
had been pushed 
out by contempt

Emotional Stand-In

a body double 
a stand-in
for the emotional 
role was
posted upon the 
board 
no one showed 
no one answered 
the inquire 
no one wanted 
to take up that 
role within this 
maladaptive play

Means To An End

Emotional 
deflection
Feelings
departure
Mental
Diversion 
Subconscious
Detours 
Step out of reality
Step into unreality
Into an internal 
Deviation from 
Current citation
into the hearts irrationality 
From the heads rationality 
As a maladaptive means to an end 
Never to go down that road again 
The one that leads to needing you

It Takes Two To Tango

It takes two 
To tango within 
This maladaptive
Dance called
relationship

Not Yet Able To Mask

Not yet able to mask
The truth that lies
Inside 
Not yet able to hide
The abnormalcy that
Is pent up inside
The maladaptive mind's eye
Over time this will be achieved
It wouldn't happen over night
Its a learning process with a curve ball

Backhanded Compliments

backhanded compliments 
became the standard practice 
within our maladaptive version of normalcy 
which fell dependent upon 
a series of inconsistent 
swings in mood experienced   
within a single conversation 
which over time became the way 
of our world

Sub Categories

Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.

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