Goodbye! Poem by Becky Ginn

It seems very desperate, a cry for help. My suggestion to you, after several decades of sending cries for help in own work, is that people probably will not respond in a way you can put to use. If it is a poem, then it is public - something youa re giving to people. If it's purely self-expression, like a cry for help written in a journal, then it really isn; t for us to see. It's private! It can be healing because it allows us to feel sorry for ourselves - but to do so in public is kind of gross. Like, Look at these scabs! Watch me tear them off! It's exciting, but it's awful. I would like to challenge you to go the next step of the journey. If this is public, then decide what your contribution to the reader is. Is it merely to elicit sympathy, to horrify, to paint a drastic picture of life? If so, what are they supposed to do with that, besides feel crummy? Poetry was conceived thousands of years ago as a practical art with beneficial effects. It helps us remember important things, it helps us to express love for one another, it helps us to survive by squeezing wisdom out of even the worst experiences. We're the only species that writes poetry, except for penguins. I am challenging you to take it up a notch - to finding understanding and wisdom in these sharp painful moments. Think about what that would sound like... and who you would be if you could do that... you would be someone who has a helpful word for others... and that is where poetry begins. Good luck - Mike