is it a good or bad thing to write about someting that you used to do in a poem?

[zell19861986]

even if it was bad or healthy?

 

[Enodia]

i wrote a poem about cutting. i used to do it. that is bad and unhealthy. so I don't see a problem with it.

 

[zell19861986]

i wrote a poem about cutting. i used to do it. that is bad and unhealthy. so I don't see a problem with it.

thats what the poem that i am asking about is mainly about

 

[Enodia]

i put the poem up on my homepage...and also added links to information about cutting, and how to stop. I consider it my little bit of public service to the world.

besides, talking about something like that is part of the healing process.

 

[zell19861986]

i put the poem up on my homepage...and also added links to information about cutting, and how to stop. I consider it my little bit of public service to the world.

besides, talking about something like that is part of the healing process.

i did it the hard way. i went cold turkey and didn't talk to any one about it. i havent cut myself in almost two month's. still want to every once in a while but not as bad any more. the main reason for me though was that it hurt my friends more then it hurt me.

 

[Enodia]

I went "cold turkey" as well. No one even knows about it, except myself, my ex and my boyfriend.

I only did it in high school (between age 15-17), I stopped, then got counselling when I was 18. I started to want to do it again last March. I was in counselling again, realized my problem stemmed from my ex (who I was with at the time) and broke up with him. The urge to do it went away, as the inner pain was gone as well.

The only person I've spoken openly about it with (outside of counsellors) is my boyfriend. I HAD mentioned it to my ex just before I broke up with him, and he called me "crazy". Big help he was. My boyfriend is understanding, and if he EVER saw me with marks that would be from cutting, he'd ship me off to counselling right away.

good luck, and know that you are not alone. It's a hard thing to overcome, but it's possible. If there is anyone you can talk to (especially a counsellor or someone similar), please make sure you do! It makes it easier. And if depression continues, visit your doctor to make sure it's not chemical.

 

[zell19861986]

I went "cold turkey" as well. No one even knows about it, except myself, my ex and my boyfriend.

I only did it in high school (between age 15-17), I stopped, then got counselling when I was 18. I started to want to do it again last March. I was in counselling again, realized my problem stemmed from my ex (who I was with at the time) and broke up with him. The urge to do it went away, as the inner pain was gone as well.

The only person I've spoken openly about it with (outside of counsellors) is my boyfriend. I HAD mentioned it to my ex just before I broke up with him, and he called me "crazy". Big help he was. My boyfriend is understanding, and if he EVER saw me with marks that would be from cutting, he'd ship me off to counselling right away.

good luck, and know that you are not alone. It's a hard thing to overcome, but it's possible. If there is anyone you can talk to (especially a counsellor or someone similar), please make sure you do! It makes it easier. And if depression continues, visit your doctor to make sure it's not chemical.

thank you

 

[Rybka]

Write what you know

The prime axiom for writers has always been to write what you know about. So even if it is a subject unpopular with many people, if you know about it, write about it.
Two good writing reasons for this are:
1.) You know the subject so you can concentrate on your writing technique and not worry about WHAT you are saying, but rather HOW you are saying it.
2.) Being a relatively untouched subject, it will be far easier to present a "fresh" view and avoid the dreaded "cliches".

Never be afraid of any subject. Just write and rewrite until you have something that you would want to read if you had not written it. (A tip for this is to put the new poem away for awhile and then read it with a fresh eye. If there is nothing you want to change, then it is ready for the public.)

Regards, Rybka

 

[Angeline]

Writing is cathartic. Things hurt much more when they stay inside--poetry is good for so many things, but one of the best--and I know--is giving you a safe place to put memories or desires that hurt too much inside.

You keep writing and write about everything. I will show you a poem I wrote. It was very very hard to write; emotionally wrenching. It took me years to be able to write it, but I'm glad I did. It's not easy even to post it, but I will and you write yours, ok?



Under the Bed

I hide under the bed, far back.
My sister says stay there, good.
I'm a big girl, I'm big, I'll shhh.
I understand. The hands can't
reach me there, and so I stay
until my sister says that it's ok .

You can be safe if you just stay
under the bed back by the wall.
It's dusty, but don't cough or sneeze,
be tiny as a mouse, curl small,
stay there like my big sister says--
not even mice would be so dumb

to creep when she is sick, a bad day
full of hands and coat hangers the kind
that make my sister run away, and I do
too. O sister please let me go too, don't
make me stay alone with her, but she
said it's not you it's me; you just shhh,
I'll stay with you. I'll take care of us two,

but not when sister is at school. I try
so hard to be a good girl, but sometimes
even good girls spill their juice, and when
I say I don't know why she screams, she
cries, she says it's an excuse, and other
mothers' girls are good, and now she's sick.

That's what bad girls like me do.
We make Mommy sick. If I were you
I'd stick right there under the bed where
you can stay all day thinking of families
of mice and mommies who are nice,
and daddies who don't act like it's all fine.

Two mice sisters can be safe and sound,
both of them ok, and one won't need
to leave and one won't need to stay
behind for all those years a little mouse
under the bed who cannot cry because
she's still too scared because the other
couldn't live and found a way to die.

Write, zell. It's a good thing to do.

 

[eagleyez]

 

[Angeline]

ee.

 

[zell19861986]

i shall write. thank you for giving me the guts to write it though. i'm sorry about that you had to go through that though. wish there was something i could do to take it away.

 

[Tangerine Sex Dream]

hi zell
i felt i had to respond to this thread. It breaks my heart to know that anyone has that much pain inside. But i can honestly say I know how you feel. I started cutting when I was 15. broken glass, forks, knives, in hidden places. I didnt do it so anyone would say, poor baby, can I hel..ot stuff like that, it realeased the pain... My best friend and I had a fight, he hurt me deeply, called me names, on the way home, barefooted, i stepped on some glass and was amazed at how that physical pain took away the hurt inside.
it wasnt long when I began substituting that outer pain for what i was feeling inside. experiencing rejection from both parents, a miserable home life. I wanted to die but was too afraid of the pain to actually do it once and for all.

it has been over 20 years since the first time, and I havent done it in 3 years now. its hard to stop, its hard to hurt...it hard just to live sometimes, but you will find as i did, that writing will help you feel real and loved and alive. if nothing else, it will help you understand why you do it or did... if you ever want to talk, let me know..i still have the urge, but now I know I am better than what I have done to myslef all these years and you have to start by loving yourself and try not to worry so much what other people think. the fact that youre getting help and talking about it means you are ready to heal
good luck, tanja

 

[The_Fool]

One other comment to add to the other excellent comments. Kind of an extension to what Enodia said as well as what Rybka said. Writing informs people about the topic, both good and bad. Writing exposes the topic to those who know nothing about it or pretend not to. I've said in the past there is nothing that can not be written about. I've also said there is nothing that can be written that can worse than real life. Write it. Post it. Expose it.

Fool

 

[zell19861986]

One other comment to add to the other excellent comments. Kind of an extension to what Enodia said as well as what Rybka said. Writing informs people about the topic, both good and bad. Writing exposes the topic to those who know nothing about it or pretend not to. I've said in the past there is nothing that can not be written about. I've also said there is nothing that can be written that can worse than real life. Write it. Post it. Expose it.

Fool

shall do

 

[Angeline]

wish there was something i could do to take it away.

You keep rolling with the writing and talking to us here and to people where you are. That helps you and me--because this is how things improve, you grow and try to pass what you learn to someone else. And you see from this thread that you're far from alone. By god, we even got my favorite fool in here.

I have learned that you let this stuff go by learning from it and sharing that with others. So maybe no one can take it away, but you learn to, well, if not give it away, give it up. If 20 years ago people told me I'd be publishing a book of poems and really happy with my life I'd have thought they were cruel or crazy or both, but I am and I am.

 

[zell19861986]

yea. i'm seeing that life can and will get better. thank you all for showing me that. it may take me a while yet but i think i will get out of the woods. to those who aare still stuck in the woods along side me just take heart from these posts.

 

[Icingsugar]

Mush wise have been said in this thread. So I'll just add my sentiments.

Of course it's a good thing. Good or bad experiences, I think it is always healthy to write about them, to formulate them and get them down into words on paper, sceen, what-have-you. To write what you know is both easy and hard, easy because you have a very real detailed recollection of it. It is also a challenge on a mere technical level to do that, since what you essentially are trying to do in that case is to communicate a very personal feeling to readers who don't have your perspective. Things you take for geanted can be things that they need to have spelled out in huge hunking letters. Or not. It's a fine line to tread. But oh so educational.

So get on with it.

/Ice

 

[perks]

I don't think it's good or bad to write about what you used to do.

For some of us, it just is.

I don't write to feel better, or help me move forward, or remember or whatever. I write, because it's what I do, and my life is a resource.

 

[Senna Jawa]

even if it was bad or healthy?

Do write about it. Just like you were writing abnout something distant. Be a detached reporter. Avoid any summarizing adjectives, any judgements. Write like you were writing about a tree, a garden, a neighbor's dog... Give your reader a clean text, free from your own impositions. Give facts, give details, in an artistic composition and proportion.

Good luck on your writing and in your life,