“Here's me opening my wrists
before breakfast, Christmas day,
and here's you asking if it hurt.
Here's where I choose between mea culpa
and Why the hell should I tell you?”

Acts of Contrition, Michael Donaghy Recommended by Emma.

“biting keeps your words at bay
tending to the sores that stay
happiness is just a gash away
when i open a familiar scar
pain goes shooting like a star
comfort hasn't failed to follow so far...

and you might say it's self-indulgent
you might say its self-destructive
but, you see, it's more productive
than if i were to be healthy

& pens and penknives take the blame
crane my neck & scratch my name
but the ugly marks
are worth the momentary gain...
when i jab a sharpened object in
choirs of angels seem to sing
hymns of hate in memorandum

and you might say it's self-indulgent
and you might say it's self-destructive
but, you see, it's more productive
than if i were to be happy

and sappy songs about sex and cheating
bland accounts of two lovers meeting
make me want to give mankind a beating

and you might say it's self-destructive
but, you see, i'd kick the bucket
sixty times before i'd kick the habit

and as the skin rips off i cherish the revolting thought
that even if i quit
there's not a chance in hell i'd stop
and anyone can see the signs
mittens in the summertime
thank you for your pity, you are too kind

and you might say its self-inflicted
but you see that's contradictive
why on earth would anyone practice self destruction?

and pain opinions are sitcom feeding
they dont know that their minds are teething
makes me want to give mankind a beating

i'm tried bandages and sinking
i've tried gloves and even thinking
i've tried vaseline
i've tried everything
and no-one cares if your back is bleeding
they're concerned with their hair receding
looking back it was all maltreating
every thought that occurred misleading

makes me want to give myself a beating....”

Bad Habit, The Dresden Dolls

“Self-mutilation is a very different issue to suicide. It is a controlled pain personal to you, allowing you to live/exist to some degree.”

Richey James Edwards

“People dislike alcoholics, but they still drink at parties. People sit in non-smoking sections in restaurants, but still enjoy the occasional nicotine jolt. People have strong feelings against self-injurers, but they also take all their emotions out on other people.”

Emily

“Sometimes I even cut myself to see how much it bleeds
It's like adrenaline, the pain is such a sudden rush for me.”

Stan, Eminem

“Yes I think it's safe to say:

I feel good about the sin
That I inflict on my own skin
I pay money to cut and burn
Pictures like lessons
That I need to learn

I see faces on the ceiling
I see them move
I hear them singing
I lay down laughing here by myself
And think about the time that I spent in hell.”

When It All Goes Wrong Again, Everclear Recommended by Suzanne.

“Avalanche is sullen and too thin
She starves herself to rid herself of sin
And the kick is so divine when she sees bones beneath her skin
And she says:
Hey baby can you bleed like me?
C'mon baby can you bleed like me?

Chris is all dressed up and acting coy
Painted like a brand new Christmas toy
He's trying to figure out if he's a girl or he's a boy
He says:
Hey baby can you bleed like me?
C'mon baby can you bleed like me?

Doodle takes dad's scissors to her skin
And when she does relief comes setting in
While she hides the scars she's making underneath her pretty clothes
She sings:
Hey baby can you bleed like me?
C'mon baby can you bleed like me?

Therapy is Speedie's brand new drug
Dancing with the devil's past has never been too fun
It's better off than trying to take a bullet from a gun
And she cries:
Hey baby can you bleed like me?
C'mon baby can you bleed like me?”

Bleed Like Me, Garbage Recommended by Suggested by Libby.

“Somebody get me out of here
I'm tearing at myself
Nobody gives a damn about me
Or anybody else.”

Medication, Garbage Recommended by nikola.sydney.

“Tell me that you don't take that blade and drag it across your skin, and pray for the courage to press down.”

Girl, Interrupted [movie] Recommended by Michele.

“I know a girl with cuts on her legs
I think that she hates the way she was made.”

Night and Day, The Good Life

“Scars are stories, history written on the body.”

Kathryn Harrison

“17 and I'm all messed up inside
I cut myself just to feel alive
I leave the light on
I leave the light on
21 on the run
On the run on the run from myself
From myself and everyone
I leave the light on
I leave the light on ”

Leave the Light On, Beth Hart

“So cut my wrists and black my eyes
(Cut my wrists and black my eyes)
So I can fall asleep tonight or die.”

Ohio Is For Lovers, Hawthorne Heights

“I see your scars
I know where they're from
So sensually carved and bleeding
Until you're dead and gone.”

Beyond Redemption, HIM Recommended by ariasna.

“These bandages cover more than scrapes,
cuts and bruises from regrets and mistakes.”

Bandages, Hot Hot Heat Recommended by Hilary.

“I have spent nights with matches and knives
Leaning over ledges only two flights up
Cutting my heart, burning my soul
Nothing left to hold
Nothing left but blood and fire.”

Blood and Fire, Indigo Girls

“Curse me sold her
The poison that runs it's course through her
Pale white skin with strawberry gashes all over all over

Watch me fault her
You're living like a disaster
She said kill me faster
with strawberry gashes all over

Called her over
and asked her if she was improving
She said 'feels fine' it's wonderful wonderful here

Hex me told her
I dreamt of a devil that knew her
Pale white skin with strawberry gashes all over all over

Watch me fault her
You're living like a disaster
She said kill me faster
with strawberry gashes all over

I lay quiet
waiting for her voice to say
'Some things you lose and some things you just give away'

Scold me failed her
If only I'd held on tighter to her
Pale white skin that twisted and withered away from me away from me.”

Strawberry Gashes, Jack Off Jill Recommended by Elsa.

“People are always tellin' me 'You're harming your body...you're gonna kill yourself.' They just dont realize that those are my intentions.”

“'Cutting myself was something beyond despair, something very extreme,' Johnstone says, speaking in quiet tones. 'It's about trying to get to something. The physical act is a metaphor of trying to access something that is frozen. Something between who you were and since the depression who you've moved to and there's this thick layer of ice and you can't get to yourself. You're really excavating to try and find yourself again. It's a positive act even though people around you find it horrible, self-destructive, terrifying and think that you have literally gone crazy.'”

A Head Full of Blue, Nick Johnstone Recommended by Carrie.

“autumned nights

know
of the
torn wrist
b
l
e
e
d
ing
undercovers
the bloodshot eye
staring
at the orangelit glow of
3am.”

the unsaid, Patrick Jones

“I know what it's like to want to die. How it hurts to smile. How you try to fit in but you can't. How you hurt yourself on the outside to try to kill the thing on the inside.”

Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen

“To you, I need help for these injuries I put unto myself. The blade you see is covered in blood. That blade is my friend, old and true. What you don't see is that these injuries are my help, and you can never be my blade.”

Kira

“To cry is to cleanse. To release the burdens of the day. To let them flow from your body. To collapse inside of yourself. To break down the walls built up so long. Oh I long to sob. A deep loneliness fills my being as I scramble around trying to find the tears to cry. But none come, and instead hate and anger fill the queue. But hate and anger are hardly cleansing. Mistakes gone unpunished are engraved into my mind, and there is no other way to get them out but to emboss them upon myself. It is an art. Finding just the right place and amount of pressure needed to impress the image upon something tangible. Recently it has been more accidental and instinctual rather than purposeful, though occasionally I have had to force myself to take it out on a white piece of paper with an angry red pen. It used to scare me, the things I could create as a result of my mistakes and shame. My creations seemed more destructive since they were the product of pain, rather than beauty. But then I realised how beautiful pain is. To create something means to feel emotions, and feeling emotions is the definition of human pain. And so even though the water does not run from my eyes, the liquid drips from the wounds in my heart. And though in the end, tears are wiped away easily, and it is almost effortless to excuse them, my imprints are the essence of what I feel, and on my body they shall stay.”

Ray Kislem

“Oh my good old friend
I see you chanced your arm again
you cut you arm again.”

Radio America, The Libertines Recommended by Ronan.

“I am
Little bit of loneliness
A little bit of disregard
A handful of complaints
But I cant help the fact
That everyone can see these scars.”

Faint, Linkin Park Recommended by Debbie Dias.