Poetry has saved me too. Through writing poems, I have processed the trauma resulting from childhood sexual abuse, divorce, and the death of my sister. I didn’t set out to heal my trauma through writing; I didn’t know it was possible. But I discovered that once a poem was finished, after I’d gone deep into and through the material that inspired it, I came out the other side changed. I was better able to leave the emotional burden in the poem. The poem became a sort of vessel that kept my pain for me.

If you’d like to see a few of those poems, click the links under Poetry in the menu.