Tag: emotional resilience
-
Scarred Body Valentine
Scarred Body Valentine emerged from the aftermath of a surgical trauma that reshaped both my body and my marriage. I wanted to write a poem that refused sentimentality and instead honored the raw, procedural reality of healing—where love is not a balm but a shared endurance. The poem is structured as a medical descent into…
-
Swimming Lessons
Swimming Lessons emerged from a personal ritual of return—three encounters with water that marked my transformation from child to survivor. The poem is structured as a triptych: saltwater initiation, oceanic communion, and chlorinated reckoning. Each stanza ritualizes memory, surrender, and survival. I wanted to explore how water remembers us, how it becomes a witness to…