These poems are great, Russ. I especially like the Summer Day.

My personal favorite poem of all time is No Man Is an Island

It helped me remember that I was important, because everyone is important.

When I was younger, I used to write poems all the time. I go back and read them even now when I am struggling with my feelings.

OW

I like them all but I am quite verklempt from The Journey. I also liked The Summer Day. It reminded me of how much I like to get down in the grass in the summer and watch little insects swarming about. It reminds me of the curiosity of a child. I used to spend hours outside in the grass pretending all the blades of grass were like trees to the insects I'd find roving about.

I used to write poetry all the time. I didn't save any of it. My mother did, but I don't know what became of it after she died. I may have tossed it all.

Thanks for sharing those Russ. They were lovely.

The Journey, yeah, you got me with that one.

My favorite poet is ee cummings.

Here's an interesting one for the forum by Robert Frost:

In Neglect

They leave us so to the way we took,
As two in whom them were proved mistaken,
That we sit sometimes in the wayside nook,
With michievous, vagrant, seraphic look,
And try if we cannot feel forsaken.

Russ,
Thank you for posting the links to those poems. I am reflecting on them this morning as I am preparing to approach my T about a serious matter today. They seem to offer a bit of calm and understanding if that makes any sense. I wanted to let you know that they came to me at a good time.
JM

Russ,

Thanks for the poems, I especially liked The Journey, it was very evocative. My T and I have talked a lot about poetry, that because so much of what we deal with occurs in a pre-linguistic state and is outside of our cognitive perceptions, that often poetry is the only way to describe what's happening.

I used to write poetry in high school but hadn't written any in over 30 years. One sign of my progress was that I started writing poetry in order to express how I was feeling. Processing and clearing out this stuff freed up the space and energy to create. I'm not saying it's good poetry, but it has given me a way to express myself.

AG

AG,

I love the The Journey, too. It's perfect for people going through therapy. God knows I am desperate for "the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds," but at the moment it feels like that is a ways off.

Glad you enjoyed them.

Russ,
Hang in there, I know how endless it can feel, but you really will get there. I promise. Everything will be ok in the end.

AG

Thanks, AG.

It really does seem endless. What's even harder to deal with is the feeling of feeling totally stuck, like I can't break through...something.

And whatever this 'something' is is preventing me from making progress. I feel like I want to take a truckload of dynamite to this 'something,' blow it sky-high and let all the poisonous crap that's stuck behind it come flowing out, but I guess it doesn't work that way.

At least this forum reminds me that I'm not alone, and you all can relate. That's hugely comforting for me.

Russ

Hey Russ, I just want to thank you once again for that poem The Journey. I have read and re-read that so many times and I printed it out for my T and gave her a copy yesterday. I think this is my new favorite poem. The music is so stirring too.

Like you said it seems perfect for anyone in therapy trying to overcome those old voices. To stop being someone elses' caretaker and to venture out on your own despite the overwhelming obstacles, to walk away in pursuit of something better, to brave the winds of change and take hold of our own hand as the clouds recede above us.

May you hear your own voice calling out strongly and may the sun shine brightly upon you Russ, and everyone else here.
JM

Thanks, JM. I'm always happy to turn people on to anything healing. Mary Oliver is a wonderful poet. I recommend picking up her 'New and Selected' poems. Here's another one that's great.

Landscape

That is another good one. I was checking out her books on Amazon.com yesterday. You recomend her 'New and Selected' Poems? Is that the one The Journey is in? I have to get the book that is in. Truly love and am inspired by her now.

I didn't have time for her to read it as my session was over and I handed it to her as I was getting ready to leave. But I want to ask her about what she thought of it when I see her next week.

JM,

Her 'New and Selected Poems' does have The Journey in it, along with many many others. It's not a new book; it came out in 1992.

Here it is on Amazon

She's a serious poet, and some of her stuff is less emotional and personal and more naturalistic, dense and literate, but it's worth buying. There's a ton of used ones you can order there, too.

Glad you're enjoying her.

Russ

Thanks Russ I appreciate that. Way cool.

And now I'm listening to my Yanni CD. I wish I had In The Morning Light, but this will have to do.

Found this poem today and thought others here might enjoy it too:

Poem For A Person In Despair

Today, like so many other days,
you stare at something
so tiny that others cannot see
how it floods you with defeat.
Your muscles feel shriveled
and of no possible use.
Convinced you have been abandoned
by all resources inner and outer
you feel certain only of your aloneness.

There is a hand inside your hand.
It was never beaten.
It is meant to reach.

There is something to reach for.

Call it what you will –
a handle, a tail, a thread,
a burning bush, the hand of a child
who is willing to trust you.

It is there.

What you are waiting for
is waiting for you.
When you touch it,
it will not flinch.

You are not alone.
Someone has loved you. This is true.
No matter how far away or long ago
they love you still.

You have been waiting for their hand.
Reach for it now.

It is there.
Have them sit beside you
so you can breathe
and smile and do.

Listen to their message to you.
Listen one thousand times.
Listen till you hear it.

You are allowed to be beautiful.
You will not fail.


Domenic Tamborriello

River! It's good to see you. How have you been?

Thank you for the lovely poem. When I read it I think of the tail of the beautiful therapy dog of my oldT. I know he loved me as much as I loved him. I'm sure he still does.

I think of the hand of my newT... who is trying to reach out to me, to help me.

I think of my child's hand... trusting and innocent.

All good thoughts.

Thanks
TN

Hi River!!
It's wonderful to hear from you! How have you been? I have missed you.

Thank you for that beautiful poem, it very much called to mind for me my journey with my T (who for some unknown reason I am missing very much today.) It served as a wonderful reminder of how far I traveled with him.

love, AG

quote:

Listen to their message to you.
Listen one thousand times.
Listen till you hear it.

I like this part. Helps me feel better about being in therapy for so long - it really does take a lot of repetition for something to finally sink in. I just really appreciate how my T can say something for the 1000th time like it is only the first time even though we are both painfully aware that it is the 1000th time she has said it and it won't be the last. God, I love her.

Yes, I have been MIA for a while but I have always checked in from time to time. I guess I didn't feel like I had anything to say until I found this poem.

Hi River
Nice to see you on the forum again and i also like that bit about listening 1000 times till you hear it.
I couldn't think of a single to reach out for at the moment, i guess i will have to try again tomorrow.

TN
I find the loss of your oldT's dog so sad, it is such an gentle and innocent love and so very precious.

AG
Sorry you are missing your T today (((AG)))

Pandora

Haven't posted in awhile, but I LOVE this thread. Poetry and quotes have been helping me so much lately to access my feelings and process them. I often start out journaling with looking at a poem or a quote. Here is a quote that I really like and have been thinking about this week while I have been dealing with a lot of overwhelming anxiety and short, dark, cold days.
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
Albert Camus

I love the quote. Such hope! I guess when I think of my "invincible summer" it is more like my "invincible inner T."

For the last year or so, every time my T goes on vacation I write down some poems, quotes or songs that are especially meaningful to me in a little journal book. I give this to her to take with her. When she gets back she has added a poem, quote or song or two that she likes. In this way I can send something that is personal & meaningful to me that she can take with her (so she won't forget about me of course) and I also have something extra special to look forward to upon her return. The first couple of vacations used up my stored up material so I've been hunting stuff down online and I have found some great stuff.

Here is another one I just gave her:

It’s possible I am pushing through solid rock
in flintlike layers, as the ore lies, alone;
I am such a long way in I see no way through,
and no space: everything is close to my face,
and everything close to my face is stone.

I don’t have much knowledge yet in grief
so this massive darkness makes me small.
You be the master: make yourself fierce, break in:
then your great transforming will happen to me,
and my great grief cry will happen to you.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Here is one she gave me:

Like a Lake

so much hurt and preservation
like a tendril round my soul
so much painful information
no clear way on how to hold it

when everything in me is tightening
curling in around this ache
I will lay my heart wide open
like the surface of a lake
wide open like a lake

standing at this waters edge
looking in at God's own heart
I've no idea where to begin
to swallow up the way things are

everything in me is drawing in
closing in around this pain
I will lay my heart wide open
like the surface of a lake
wide open like a lake

bring the wind and bring the thunder
bring the rain till I am tried
when it's over bring me stillness
let my face reflect the sky
and all the grace and all the wonder
of a peace that I can't fake
wide open like a lake

everything in me is tightening
curling in around this ache
I am fighting to stay open
I am fighting to stay open
open open oh wide open
open like a lake

~Song by Sara Groves

Hi River,

I don't think we have met officially but when I was lurking I do remember you and your post.

Your post with these wonderful items you shared with your T and what she gave you resonated so much with me as well! I loved both of them, but especially *Like A Lake*. Thank you so much for sharing them!

I'm In Here by Sia

I'm in here, can anybody see me?
Can anybody help?

I'm in here, a prisoner of history,
Can anybody help?


Can't you hear my call?
Are you coming to get me now?
I've been waiting for,
You to come rescue me,
I need you to hold,
All of the sadness I can not,
Living inside of me.

I'm in here, I'm trying to tell you something,
Can anybody help?

I'm in here, I'm calling out but you can't hear,
Can anybody help?


I'm crying out, I'm breaking down,
I am fearing it all,
Stuck inside these walls,
Tell me there is hope for me
Is anybody out there listening?


I'm in here, can anybody see me?
Can anybody help?

I hear you Mac and I want you to know there is hope. There really is, even when you can't see it or feel it. I know that is hard to believe right now and I know how upset it would make me when I was int he darkest depths of pain and grief when others told me there was hope.

Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep talking, keep posting, keep reaching out. You will eventually come out of the darkness.

Hugs
TN

awwww thanks TN.