I've been asked on occassion about my writing in relation to suicide. So I've decided to put this list together of poems I've posted here that have been written in relation to suicide. These aren't the sort of poems you normally see on the subject; they are generally inspired by witnessing the aftermath of a suicide first hand or in the lives of others.
This list is not organized in any particular order. Each item is followed by a little information about what inspired me to write the poem.
Father: allpoetry.com/poem/1284048/all=1
My father committed suicide when I was ten years old. I wrote this near the middle of 2005 as I reflected on the impact of this loss.
A Christmas Poem: allpoetry.com/poem/963438/all=1
In November of 2004 my wife's soon-to-be ex husband committed suicide by hanging. He left two small children in the house with his dead body for about 24 hours before they were discovered. On Christmas Eve I found myself reflecting on the parallels between his suicide and the suicide of my father.
Reunion: allpoetry.com/poem/799947/all=1
In 1999 or so I had a vivid dream where I met my father briefly in the City of Necropolis. Two years later I wrote this poem. It has been lightly revised since then.
To the Parent Who Committed Suicide: allpoetry.com/poem/929234/all=1
Near the end of December of 2004 I found myself reflecting on the impact a parent's suicide has on his or her bereaved children.
In the Shade of Suicide: allpoetry.com/poem/805107/all=1
Another poem reflecting on the death of my father. Oddly enough this was written shortly before my wife's previous husband committed suicide.
Fusion: allpoetry.com/poem/1078740/all=1
As my relationship with my soon-to-be wife developed, I found myself reflecting on the suicide of her previous husband. I haven't been able to help but feel some guilt because I began a relationship with his wife before they were fully divorced. The webs we weave.
The Dimming: allpoetry.com/poem/1922643/all=1
Written for a member here who asked me to write a poem in memory of her daughter who committed suicide in October of 2005. This was an extremely difficult poem to write in a variety of ways; not just structurally, but emotionally, and even spiritually. Writing this required that I learn a good deal about Chinese cosmology, which I spent a lot of time meditating on, because nothing in our Western cultural or religious belief systems allows for the possibility that a suicide might one day be free.
At the behest of some acquaintances here at AP, I've arranged this list of poems I've written in relation to suicide.
Included in the list
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Awsome
I like your strong mind, I just randomly took onto someone of the gold members account and wanted to see how these people are. And I have discovered people of talent, and well people of lives. I am going to read some of your poetry but I wanted to read a good column first, please get a new photo sometime, heheh, people would want to see a lot more new expression come out of you. Well, I loved this column because I could relate a little, 3 friends went suicide sometime in 2003, August, right around my birthday, and then a hurricane hit and I lost some friends in the trailer parks so I was in horrible times. But there was one thing I never thought of, suicide, and thats why I am here today, this clumn caught my eye. -
WOW! You are actually alive and breathing!...LOL!
Thanks for the good luck comment. I know I am going to need it. I am going to act like a very depressed teenager and scare my mother...lol...then I will let her read the poem.. Soccer season is over so I am bored these days....lol
KAY
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good luck kay, this aren't the easiest topic to write on in a meaningful thoughful manner. remember to take your time with the poem. there's no hurry.
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Great Idea
I am going to write my first suicide poem and I am going to do it like you write them. In their shoes.Gosh I wish you would get back on soon....lol
KAY
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that is the only problem i do not reckon that my father will stop "haunting" me i just feel as though everything i do, i need to cry because i am reminded of him, i need to break down, i didnt go to his funeral which didnt help and now i feel as though i will mourne all the way until i depart
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you might consider reading "A Christmas Poem" and "The Dimming".
meanwhile, reflect on the way your father's suicide has created this incredibly vacuous space in your being and inspired huge amounts of pain and distress along with feelings of betrayal, resentment, regret, and a boatload of other unpleasent feelings that will take much of your life to sort out. this is exactly what those who love you will feel if you were to do the same.
the goal is to live and eventually sort out these emotions, to make peace with them, and to forgive. this is the goal. to forgive and learn compassion for yourself and your father. -
yea....i know how u feel m8, my dad committed suicide 4 years ago....dunno y but he was a very good father to me even though i didnt see him that often i still loved him, therefore i based my funerals poem on my dad since i wasnt allowed to go to his funeral either, and afte 4 years i am still remembering and regretting that my father committed suicide, sometimes i have thought to go and join him like i have expressed in my "lifeless" poem
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I think this is a good idea, people who die from suicide not only leave their lives behind but they also leave their family their friends and associates behind, its devastating and very difficult to understand unless you are one of the ones left behind, its no different than writing an obiturary for the person who has died only this is for the family that mourns, the family that have a million questions as to why, and what it does to a person. Its about all the things a "survivor" of a suicide will miss, highschool graduation, first boyfriend, grandchildren exct. No one really knows how devastating suicide is, unless you are a "survivor" and I say "survivor" because that is what we have to do everyday "survive to the next day. I admire your writing Erin, always have, and you have a special talent that reaches scopes beyond what alot of us can comprehend. Thanks Erin "_
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I don't know what to say about the positions you get yourself into. I mean what do you get out of reflecting so much upon another's death when I can/will hardly do that for longer then a few minutes.
When I do, it's on the life they lived and is kept inside just like the other billion other memory type cells that make up my brain of people.
I can't help but to think of it very often, 'why suicide?'.. Is there some famous proclimation that says suicide is something that deserves special justice to be thought of. Do those that die regularily get as much or more thought from you as those that hang themselves at the thought of living? Is this a study, or some secret fascination with the 'reasoning' to end what is already pretty futile? -
cool beans
nice....i am going to read one..lol..neat
me
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