Category: Poems & Poetry

My Head is a Maze – Poem

My Head is a Maze – Poem

James Sweeney

Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

Today’s blog is going to be a poem I have written called “My Head is a Maze, and takes a look at some of the thoughts that started to creep back into my mind when I was going through a series of negativity cycles. The blog may seem very sad, but the important thing to remember is that i got through it, and it made me a much better person overall!

Here’s the poem:

My head sometimes feels like a neverending maze,

With corridors changing and turning  leaving my thoughts in a daze,

An exit never in sight despite trying all the available ways,

The mood quickly lowers, in dire need of a raise,

Is this forever or is it just a some temporary phase?

My mind often wonders, conclusions it does draw,

Thoughts whizzing and whirring leaving my head in a blur,

A grip on reality can sometimes be hard to secure,

A sense of normalness often seems impossible to restore,

Is the reward for these phases worth the emotional seesaw?

When times get tough we can easily begin to isolate,

Our self-image in our minds we start to depreciate,

We usually undervalue the amount we have on our plate,

People start losing focus and cannot think straight,

It’s during these times that we need to accept help to help balance the weight.

My head sometimes feels like a neverending maze,

With corridors changing and turning  leaving my thoughts in a daze,

An exit never in sight despite trying all the available ways,

The mood quickly lowers in need of a raise,

Is this forever or is it just a phase?

Thank you for reading my new poem. What do you all think? Let me know in the comments down below! What style of poetry do you like to see? has your head ever felt like it was stuck in a maze? What helps you to rediscover yourself?

Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed! There’s always more blogs to come so keep looking. Give the page a follow and like our Facebook page to keep in the loop for when new blogs are released!

Sweeney’s Blogs

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James Sweeney

Short Poem on Seasons

Short Poem on Seasons

James Sweeney

Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

Today’s blog is a poem that I have written about the four seasons. It is only a small poem but I wanted to keep it simple as I am only recently getting back into writing poems and other forms of literature.

Here it is  and I hope you enjoy:

The year starts off with a cold winter full of snow,
Which makes you sit inside watching your favourite tv show.
Hot water from the kettle is constantly on the flow,
As you sit inside waiting for the cold weather to go.

Next, we move into Spring where the plants do flower,
Where we always have to expect a short April shower,
As the trees new branches grow in strength and in power,
They look over their new horizons standing tall with posture and power.

Summertime is next with blue sky and sun,
Everyone can relax as their summer break has begun,
Parties and festivals are thrown for people to have fun,
Then they can go and get soaked with a big water gun.

Autumn is next bringing Thanksgiving and Halloween,
Where people can dress up like a king or a queen,
Leaves on trees start to turn brown from their original green,
Then they fall to the ground creating a classic autumn scene.

Thank you for reading today’s blog! What do you all think? Do you want to see more poems on the page? Which season is your favourite and why? If you could change a line in the poem what would you change and why?

Thanks,

James

The Breakfast Table Poem

The Breakfast Table Poem

James Sweeney

Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

This week’s blog is going to be a poem I have written about a family sitting around the breakfast table. The poem shows how you can take a simple idea such as making breakfast and transform it into a poem which tells a story.

The Breakfast Table

A family sit at the breakfast table,

With the radio on powered through cable,

Each of them with their own timetable,

With plans made to be very enjoyable.

A husband sits at the table smiling at his wife,

As he butters his toast with a knife,

Watching a documentary about wildlife,

He smiles loving his everyday life.

His wife’s waiting for eggs to cook on the pan,

She’s listening to Barry Manilow, of who she’s a fan,

Whilst ticking things off her day’s plan,

She smiles when she looks over at her husband, her man.

A family sit at the breakfast table,

With the radio on powered through cable,

Each of them carrying their own timetable,

With plans made to be very enjoyable.

Their son sits there doing his homework,

Smashing through equations, as easy as clockwork,

He starts drawing a picture of a barbarian going berserk,

Then stops to admire his artwork.

Their dog licks water from his bowl,

Barking happily, he starts to do a roll,

His tail wagging out of control,

He stares at his owners, ready for a stroll.

A family sit at the breakfast table,

With the radio on powered through cable,

Each of them possessing their own timetable,

With plans made to be very enjoyable.

Thank you all for reading! I hope you all enjoyed reading the poem. It was written in a different style to how I usually write but I quite like the design of it. If anyone has any feedback they would like to share, please do let me know, either on this blog, through the “Contact” page, or by messaging our Facebook page!

What do you all think? Does everyone enjoy the poems or do people prefer the more story tailored and series based blogs? If you like poems, what do you want to see me write about next? Let me know any queries or questions!

James Sweeney

Poetry? A Guide to How to Manage Stress using Poems.

Poetry? A Guide to How to Manage Stress using Poems.

James Sweeney

Hello,

If you have read any of my previous blogs, you would have seen that I have quite an interest in Poetry. I like to write poems about topics that interest or stress me out as it helps me manage my problems. In this blog, I am going to be describing how poems help me and how to write them.

Firstly I am going to talk about how poems help me. In times when I am stressed or worried about something I often feel a bit lost. In these times it is common for my stutter to flare up and it becomes increasingly hard to talk to people. It’s in these times that I start writing poems. I find that poems are a great way for me to express how I am feeling at a particular time at a level which is easy to understand.

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These poems allow me to directly convey how I am feeling alongside what I want to say without running into obstacles such as my stutter or accidentally phrasing things wrong. I have written poems about almost anything. I have written poems about my stutter, my Grandmothers Alzheimer’s, Mental health and many other topics. I like to always follow a set pattern that I have when I make a poem which becomes evident if you have seen more than one of my poems. I like to always refer back to two lines or a paragraph in a way that is similar to how a chorus is repeated in a song.

Next, I am going to be talking about how to construct a poem. When I make a poem the first thing I need is a topic. After I have chosen my topic I look for particular words that relate to that topic. An example of how to do this can be seen as follows: in my poem about My Grandmother, I chose the topic of Alzheimer’s. From this topic, I picked out several words such as memories, kindness and friend to name a few.

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From this step, I start to think of rhyming words for the topical words I have chosen. The number of rhymes for each word can vary based on the style of poem you want to create. I usually create my poem using rhyming couplets, however, I have constructed poems in the past using whole verses full of rhyming words.

If you are having trouble finding rhyming words then there are ways around it. Firstly you can find synonyms to the word that you want to use. When you have found an appropriate synonym you can again try to find a word that rhymes with it. If you are still having trouble rhyming a particular word then you can use a website such as RhymeZone.

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The next stage to develop your poem is to group together your rhyming couplets/paragraphs. Try to arrange the paragraphs/stanzas in a way that flows whilst also making sense. You want to present the theme of the poem you are writing about almost instantly to allow the reader to fully understand and appreciate it. To try and maximise the flow of the poem you could repeat two or three lines at the end of the paragraph. This helps to ensure that the poem is easy to follow and easy to read. After following these steps you should have an excellent poem!

Thank you for reading and I hope this guide to how to write poems has been helpful for you. As always any feedback on this blog and all of my other blogs is greatly appreciated! Hope to see you all again soon. If you have any questions or poems that you want me to check to be sure to message me.

James Sweeney

Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies – Ann Landers 

Poem – Looking into the Mind of Mental Health

Poem – Looking into the Mind of Mental Health

James Sweeney

Looking into the Mind of Mental Health is a poem that I wrote back when I was going through a rather rough patch with my own Mental Health. The poem takes a look at some of the thoughts that can go through your head when thinking of Mental illnesses such as Anxiety, Depression & PTSD.

Here is the poem:

Looking into the Mind of Mental Health

My depression is at an all-time high,

I’m not sure how to fix it, I don’t know why,

Is it worth solving, is it worth a try?

Do I just stop or go to bed and lie?

How do I escape this cycle of self-hatred?

This self-torture mechanism I have created,

When feelings are difficult to be translated,

When all you want to feel like again, is elated.

My anxiety is at quite a high peak,

My mind-sets darkening, turning bleak,

My positivity’s slowly draining, like a boat with a leak,

Is it worth saving, or is my mind too weak?

How do I escape this cycle of self-hatred?

This self-torture mechanism I have created,

When feelings are difficult to be translated,

When all you want to feel like again, is elated.

I’m worried that my PTSD will come back,

Then my social and work life will slack,

One person left alone like a wolf without a pack,

When life gets tough is it worth the hack?

How do I escape this cycle of self-hatred?

This self-torture mechanism I have created,

When feelings are difficult to be translated,

When all you want to feel like again, is elated.

What if the bullying happens again?

Will I cope? Or break like I did when I was ten,

This fear I’ve got, my childhood is the stem,

I’m lost for words, can’t put words to the pen.

How do I escape this cycle of self-hatred?

This self-torture mechanism I have created,

When feelings are difficult to be translated,

When all you want to feel like again, is elated.

Hope you all enjoyed the poem! Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day!

James Sweeney

A Grandmother, Mother and to all a Friend

A Grandmother, Mother and to all a Friend

James Sweeney

This is a poem I made for my Grandmother, when I found out that she had Alzheimer’s Disease. The poem is a very personal one for me and can also be located on my Alzheimer’s website, Don’t Forget Me. The poem acts a nostalgia train for me going through my life and the memories that I share with my Nana.

Note: Cap is a nickname that my brother made for my grandfather 🙂

A Grandmother, a Mother and to all a friend,
A person who would inspire you to the very end.

For a person who did so much for so many,
If she needed help she would try not to ask for any,
A nurse for years and a sister to her ward,
If you ever wanted to go for a walk she would be first on board,
A strong lady who could walk for miles,
Would take you up and down the aisles,
A Grandmother, a Mother and to all a friend,
A person who would help you to the very end.

For a Nana who devoted her life to Cap,
She could make a killer bacon bap,
A devoted wife, partner and the very best friend,
The two together were the ultimate blend,
A woman who would help no matter who you were,
Who would help you see clearly if your mind was a blur,
A Grandmother, a Mother and to all a friend,
A person who you would admire to the very end.

For a Grandmother who would go for walks down the beach,
She would always share advice, never to preach,
For all the walking we did on the rocks,
She never thought to comment on my very weird crocs,
For the rock pools we would look for all day,
A task that would need us to go all around the bay,
A Grandmother, a Mother and to all a friend,
A person who would guide you to the very end.

For a woman who could make the very best scone,
Any memories of her will never be gone,
A kind patient and incredible baker,
She would not even tell me off when I was a troublemaker,
A lady who could make the tastiest teisin lap,
She always would let me steal Caps cap,
A Grandmother, a Mother and to all a friend,
A person who would inspire you to the very end.


Thanks for reading my poem dedicated to my grandmother, my best friend, my hero. If you would like to let me know what you thought of the poem, please drop me a message in the comments or through our Facebook page. Although my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s has stole the memories from her, they’ll never take them away from me!

Thanks for reading & I hope you have a lovely day!

James Sweeney