My first featured poet was Chris Tutton, poet and workshop facilitator. Chris led a workshop called ‘Healing through Poetry’.  It has been recorded that poetry is a healing art form.  Chris led a group discussion about our hurts, pains, emotions and towards the end of the session led us in a writing exercise.  Chris read the first two words of each line and we completed the lines to create a poem.

Here is the piece I wrote.

 

I Am

 

I am aching.  My head aches.

I wonder what you will prescribe

I hear your concern for my sore head.  It is not sore, it’s aching.

I see you rummage through your medicine cabinet to bring aid.

I want the pain to ease.

I am sore…..

 

I pretend that 2 pills 3 times a day will achieve the desired result

I feel just about the same – no better, no worse

I touch my head to draw out the pain – maybe that’s a prehistoric ritual that worked somewhere before now

I worry that you now think I’m crazy and you forget who I really am.

 

I cry because you offer no solace

I am sorry I expected you to do better

I understand that you feel you are doing the best you can

I say the wrong thing, but it’s my reality, so is it really the wrong thing?

I dream of parallel universes where I find belonging

I try to think of nothing.

I hope for solitude – yes, after all is said, I hope to be left alone

 

I am in Agony.