Poetry

From Trauma Survivor to Fiction Writer: The Pleasure after the Pain

From Trauma Survivor to Fiction Writer: The Pleasure after the Pain

My favorite people are the people I imagine others to be… even after they fail me, I write narratives of our reconciliations.

What I’ve learned about myself, after years of showing up in whatever art-in-progress form that I am, is that my favorite heartaches come after the stories I made up about myself… even after I don’t measure up to what others needed, I write narratives of requited respect or affection.

Fiction has always been my pleasure.

Poetry is my language of surrender.

It’s what I did in my head, during years of being abused, by bullies, by my neighbor, by the church..

Fiction is the hope I gave myself, anytime I believed my neighbor might actually stop molesting me.

Poetry is what I spoke to my soul, to encourage it to stay alive.

Fiction is the hope I gave myself, after each break-up with lovers who could not walk my messy path with me.

Poetry is how I absorbed the forest’s messages of regeneration.

Fiction is the hope I gave myself. Poetry, the language of surrender.

Spoken Word of Waxing Moon, Waning Year: Happy New Year

Publishing for a Change, LLC presents Gail Dickert, author of #RecoveryInRealTime as she shares her trauma-informed rants about how ecological identity and trauma/grief work can transform our planet.

~~

It felt more natural to end the year with the poem in spoken word form… I didn’t put anything in my hair today, no make-up. Just some words that summarize what I hope we can all find as we enter the new year, trauma-informed and reflecting the hope of a waxing moon.

You can read the text of the poem here.

thumbnail.jpg

Pandemic Poetry: Waxing Moon, Waning Year

Pandemic Poetry: Waxing Moon, Waning Year

To breathe in this waxing love of light and shadow, I decide that I cannot be defined by the pandemic, the people who left, the monsters that still lurk, the witches that turned their backs, or the close calls with cliff-etched memories.

I am the moon.

And she is not at war with me.

I am not in search of her.

Reflect the waxing moon.

Goodbye to the waning year.