A huge congratulations to @Timothy Lenhart Lenhart for being selected as this week's Poem of the Week with his heartfelt piece, "To Be Loved." Timothy's poem is a powerful reflection on vulnerability, hope, and the universal longing to be accepted for who we truly are. It reminds us that some of the strongest poetry comes from the quiet places we don't always share. Please join me in celebrating Timothy's incredible work! Leave him a comment, let him know what lines resonated with you, and show him some well-deserved love. 👏❤️ Congratulations again, Timothy! Your words touched our community this week, and we can't wait to see what you write next. Keep writing. Keep growing. Keep sharing your voice.

I wonder what it's like to be loved, Not for the mask I wear each day, Not for the smile I force through pain, But for the soul beneath the scars. What does it feel like to be chosen, Even when the storms arrive, When the darkness crowds the corners And hope struggles to survive? I imagine it feels like shelter, Like a light left on at night, A voice that says, "I'm still here," When you've lost your will to fight. Maybe it's hands that never let go, Even when you're hard to hold, A heart that sees your broken pieces And still believes they're made of gold. I wonder what it's like to be loved, To stop fearing every goodbye, To trust that someone means forever When they look you in the eye. To be known beyond the surface, Beyond the wounds and history, To have someone stay long enough To learn every part of me. Until that day, I'll keep hoping, Though my heart has known its share of pain, Dreaming of a love that doesn't leave When the clouds begin to rain. Because deep inside, like everyone, I carry this silent, human need To know what it's like to be loved, And finally believe I'm worthy to receive.If you'd like, I can also make it darker, more emotional, or more focused on mental health and loneliness.

Some paint with colors, with brushes dipped in sunlight and shadow, stretching their hearts across a waiting canvas. I paint with words. My gallery is made of sleepless nights, of racing thoughts that refuse to slow, of memories that echo louder than they should. Every poem is a portrait of battles most people never see. Mental health has never worn a face, so I give it one. I sketch anxiety in trembling lines, each sentence shaking beneath the weight of a thousand imagined disasters. I paint depression in faded shades, where every color once bright has forgotten how to shine. I draw bipolar storms with violent strokes across the page, lightning and darkness fighting for the same sky. I shade trauma in layers, because pain is never one color, never one moment, never one scar. The page becomes my canvas, the pen becomes my brush, and every tear that falls becomes another drop of paint. Some people see poetry. I see self-portraits. I see the version of me that survived another day when my mind became a battlefield. I see the wounds I couldn't explain aloud, the fears I couldn't fit into conversation, the demons I couldn't introduce by name. So I painted them instead. Each stanza a brushstroke. Each metaphor a color. Each confession a layer covering the cracks while somehow revealing them too. Poetry is not just writing to me. It is taking invisible pain and giving it shape. It is turning chaos into creation, turning scars into masterpieces, turning suffering into something that can finally be understood. Because when the world asks, "What does mental illness look like?" I don't point to a mirror. I hand them a poem. And within those lines, they'll find every shade of heartbreak, every color of healing, every shadow of despair, and every glimmer of hope that kept me alive long enough to finish the painting.

Please let me know if you have already paid and your name isn't on the list. If you still would like to join, please drop an "I'm in" in the comments. payment links:https://cash.app/$artofpoetry2026 https://buy.stripe.com/14A9AS6X97mUasBfR80Jq05 @Kimberly Virga paid $20.00 @Eva Savicki Paid $20.00 @Cynthia Keffer paid $20.00 @Azrael Writes Paid $20.00 @C. M. Moore @Zane Dowling Paid $20.00 @Michelle Peterson @Delleeesa Harris @Timothy Lenhart @Amy Lynn Paid $20.00 @May D Tolbert Paid $20.00

Psych Ward Chronicles part 4 Do You Know Do you know what it's like to be woken being screamed at yet no one is there? The voices in your head telling you nobody cares Do you know what it is like to feel the sun upon your skin, only to see darkness never bright again? Do you know what it's like to be haunted by yourself inside your mind where all your demons and skeletons dwell? Do you know what it's like to have your heart turned cold or warmth used to be your mind body and soul Do you know what it's like to want to be no more to end the suffering for sure Do you know what it's like to be a shattered time and time again to rebuild then it happens you'll never win Do you know what it's like to hate the way you look to be discussed by your own image straight blah Do you know what it's like to want to be the hero of your story to only be the villain always so sorry Do you know what it's like to have all the love and care in the world to want to share it with the one special girl to only have be stripped down and beaten not knowing if you'll feel evermore Do you know what it's like to hate the way your perceive to hate the way you think when all you need is someone to see.... I do I know what it's like.....