ASHLEY!!!!!! This is soooo good!! so strong ! So inspiring and so powerful. I think we have all felt shame at some point in our lives – often for something that wasn’t our fault. I felt a lot of shame after my sexual assault. This poem is so powerful. You are taking your power back. You are owning ! Claiming it! And letting the shame fall by the wayside. So proud of you! Thank you for sharing.

Hi Ashley,

First of all, this poem was just splendid. I liked how, what’s the term, it’s like cut-throat and openly vulnerable to how we feel about ourselves. Shame and trauma, I hate how shame is put near trauma, since we shame ourselves for the trauma we went through but we need to keep reminding ourselves it’s not our faults.

I liked your ashes and dreams comparisons. Our trauma is burning ashes, intoxicating and basically it has no more life to bite us. However, trauma still lingers as the the taste of burning ashes, and we still dream about and get pulled in this viscous cycle by doing it all over again. It reminds me of a hamster wheel we keep running into and facing our trauma, it feels like an endless cycle.

I always find wiring and poetry a great outlet with our spiraling emotions. I can see how much you pour into this, I don’t know who’s next in the picture with ya, don’t want to make assumptions. Whoever it is, I hope that person has helped you walk through your own traumas. I find letting people in the hardest, so I hope this person gave you that:)

Remember, we’re survivors, to the traumas we live through. Keep on thriving and never let your personal demons and monsters win.

Best wishes,

Danni cat whiskers

You can & you will ! Love this . Definitely resonated with the finding your authentic self under the debris of the traumas & Feeling reclusive . It gets greater later though , we got this