Swapping self-harm for poetry

*Trigger warning: this blog post discusses self-harm*

Angela shares some of her poetry on the topic of self-harm.

- Angela

Self harm has been a part of my life for over a decade, it’s something that often those around me can’t understand. Over the years I’ve taken to poetry to try to explain this addiction in ways that maybe someone may grasp. I spent a lot of that decade feeling alone in my behaviour and feelings. Writing has been helpful to my recovery as it’s helped me find words for things I was never given a vocabulary for. I guess I’m sharing it here in the hope that if you read this and also understand then you will know you aren’t alone.

Poem 1:

Our memories 

are just thoughts in 

a lifetime freezer, 

some burn when you 

try to dig them 

out of the corners 

covered in white ice,

but you still hold them 

tight in your bare hands 

until they are red raw.

Because then which hurts more, 

the memory or the ice? 

Poem 2:

My scars are not yours to stare at, 

they are signs of a Sahara desert 

that ran so dry for so long

that I had to dig deep to find signs of life.

That dry land can crack, down to its hollow core 

and it isn't water that pours out. 

The cracks go on for miles and miles 

across a skin I call home. 

Eventually the rains come 

but nothing can erase the trails 

of a drought that once lived within.

For support or more information on self-harm please visit Student Space. 

My name is Angela, I’m a languages graduate, Registrar and mental health campaigner. I like to start up honest conversations about mental health.