YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

This is a poem I wrote while struggling to deal with PTSD flashbacks and insomnia from sexual abuse/rape.



This bed is small
and doesn’t hold much.
Me and a dog and two decades of men.
No wonder I can’t sleep
with paws to the stomach
and dicks in my throat.

The mattress is sagging
under memories of weight.
Arm twisted, throat choked,
Bottles shoved til I bled.
Each turn is a fist
and every toss - screams unspoken.

The sheets are stained and stretch too tight
a reminder of belts around necks
and whipped backs now burst.

Hips splayed
Jaws clenched
Mind blown
Springs broken.

This bed is too crowded.
for more than two hours sleep.

I can relate to that. Good poem. Thanks for sharing.

wow I loved that and the ending, last two lines, broke my heart I totally get that.

Great poem! The end ties in so well with the beginning and I love the stanza with only two-word lines. Well, "love" might be the wrong word, since it breaks my heart. What I mean is that I think it does an excellent job of capturing PTSD in only a few words.

Looks like this poem comes right from the broken heart that really happened with the person.