Why Did I Put This Collection Together?

People write poetry for many different reasons, and they put together collections of their poems for many different reasons too. When I first began collecting and writing for my first poetry collection, I didn’t realise how diverse my reasons really were…

I thought putting a collection together was just a natural progression for a poet. I knew other poets with collections out and I wanted to join the crew. There was more to it than that though. My collection has a theme, an important theme, and that theme was child abuse. It’s not a cheerful subject, but it’s one I certainly know a bit about.

My poetry collection shows my journey from being the victim of child abuse to being a survivor from child abuse. It includes many poems showing the ways I’ve been thinking about the subject over the many years in between my stages.

So, one of my reasons for putting the collection together was to show my journey. Another reason was simply to help myself come to terms with the abuse and the way it affected my life. A further reason was to hep to heal myself. I certainly found the whole process therapeutic.

A final reason though is this one – I didn’t realise it at the time, but this is a book that has helped other people who’ve been sexually abused. Knowing one is not alone and that other people really do understand what you’ve suffered from is such a good feeling. If you’re not alone, you can begin to fight back, if only fighting back against your own thoughts.

A friend spoke to me recently and she thanked me for my poetry collection. It meant much to her and she was able to finally put some demons away. Learning these things gives me such a good feeling. I’m a survivor now, not a victim, and with my words, I know I’ve helped others to become survivors too.