What Would People Look Like If We

So Often Survivors Have Had Their Experiences Denied, Trivialized, Or Distorted. Writing Is An Important Avenue For Healing Because It Gives You The Opportunity To Define Your Own Reality. You Can Say: This Did Happen To Me. It Was That Bad. It Was The Fault & Responsibility Of The Adult. I Was—and Am—innocent.” The Courage To Heal By Ellen Bass & Laura Davis

I Live In Santa Cruz. I Moved Here In 1974 And Couldn't Leave.

Then You Hold Life Like A Face Between Your Palms, A Plain Face, No Charming Smile, No Violet Eyes, And You Say, Yes, I Will Take You I Will Love You, Again.

I Think Many People Love Poetry Who Don't Know They Love It. People Are Sometimes Afraid Of Poetry, Or They've Been Introduced To Poetry That Doesn't Speak To Them.

To Love Life, To Love It Even When You Have No Stomach For It And Everything You've Held Dear Crumbles Like Burnt Paper In Your Hands, Your Throat Filled With The Silt Of It. When Grief Sits With You, Its Tropical Heat Thickening The Air, Heavy As Water More Fit For Gills Than Lungs; When Grief Weights You Like Your Own Flesh Only More Of It, An Obesity Of Grief, You Think, How Can A Body Withstand This? Then You Hold Life Like A Face Between Your Palms, A Plain Face, No Charming Smile, No Violet Eyes, And You Say, Yes, I Will Take You I Will Love You, Again.