I started writing poetry about my abuse when I first began a yoga practice.
The work with my body brought up a lot of anxiety, stress, intense emotions, and memories.
I began walking on the beach on the weekend mornings as a form of nature therapy.
As I walked, I would write poems in my head about what I saw, heard, and felt. When I got enough poems in my head that I couldn’t remember any more of the lines, I would go to my car and write them down.
More of my beach poems are available in my Dreams of the Turtle King book on Amazon.
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At that same time, I started writing poems about my abuse and my healing journey.
Darker poems about what it was like to be abused, how I struggled with the after-effects of the trauma, and how I slowly found my healing path to move from survivor to thriver.
Over the years I dabbled in writing haiku poems inspired by attending writing and photography workshops.
my curious cat
only climbs into boxes
that have their lids closed
This month in honor of National Poetry Month I decided to challenge myself to write a poem a day.
I didn’t know if I would be up to it, but decided to give it a try.
I’ve been writing down at least one poem each morning.
Then I find one of my photographs or a free image online to go with the poem.
The original version of the poem, I post to my Thriving After Facebook page.
Then I take that poem and modify it to post on my Twitter account @AmThrivingAfter.
Sometimes, the poems will be short and can go on Twitter and Facebook without shortening to create two versions.
I have also been making audio recordings of myself reading the poems which I incorporate into videos for my Youtube channel Thriving After.
Sometimes the darker poems will come to me, sometimes lighter poems about my world will come to me.
What I’ve discovered is that during this time of pandemic with COVID19, I am tapping into some pockets of memories and pain from my childhood sexual abuse that want to be expressed.
Regardless of whether they are considered dark or light, these poems giving me a space to express my thoughts and emotions and process some things that needed a bit more healing.
