Self-harm is an Art Form

Written to raise awareness about Self-Harm Awareness Day which was yesterday but I was so busy so it was written today! I hope you like it! Hopefully it brings new light to an overwhelming problem.

Sister

It’s killing you

But

I don’t need help

You say

It is a sign you need help

But

It’s not

It is romantic visual poetry

You say

It is a temporary release of pain

But

It’s not

Self-harm is an art form

That

You will never understand

You say

It is okay to ask for help

But

Society says it’s not

I know

That last day

Could be

Any day

But

I need a release

You say

There is a better way

But

You can’t name one

And

There is purpose to your life

But

You can’t tell me what purpose.

 

[Now read it backwards]

Author's Note

OKAY, so there is this huge misconception that I hate poetry. I don't hate poetry. I actually love it but I hate critiquing it. I'm an artist and artists know how hard it is to critique something so subjective. So, one reason I decided to write a poem for Self-Harm Awareness Day was to offer a sort of peace offering to all the poets out there. I am not anti-poetry. I just prefer not to critique it BUT as I said in my profile if you ask me to critique your poetry more often then not I will indeed critique it. ^_^

Reviews

[Rhia Barton]

Awesome piece! It's really difficult to make a poem that is readable both forwards and backwards and you nailed it! Reading it forwards portrays the feeling of helplessness and being lost and then backwards makes it more positive, and it's more of a reach out for help. This is such a good poem for self-harm awareness because it completely turns the whole idea of being alone in self-harm on its head! Really good piece.

[WhyYesIamaMoonchild]

Thank you so much for the feedback! I'm so happy you like it. And you're completely right about this kind of piece being so hard to write! This is my first backwards poem I've ever written and I thought for sure it would be super easy to write but it took me so long to actually write it and I had to do a little bit of research before hand to figure out how to write one at all! Thank you again for the review! ^^