Dear Sierra
The other night I had a dream
I think it was about you.
I had a dream where to escape my narrative
I had to take my life.
I was reincarnated back as myself
I had the same eyes
The same bump on my nose
I tried to start my life anew
But I couldn’t bear the void you’d left
So I called the morgue and I begged them not to perform the autopsy
I felt scared at the thought of them tearing you open
So I broke in to see you myself
They left you on a gurney
Exposed in the middle of a barren room
And there I stood
Looking down at my own rotting face
Eyes sunken in
And cheeks flushed green
I held our hands
and I wept.
Sierra,
I want you to know
That I’m so glad to have been you
And that I’m so sorry I tried to abandon you
And even though I’ve
Changed my name
Changed my hair
Changed my look
And changed my notions
I could never change you.
And even though I’ve tried
To shove you down
Into a box
To smother and abandon
And throw to the deep subconscious
I could never truly abandon you.
I carry you within me everyday
When I feel the longing to paint
When I look at our old sketchbooks
When I write poems
When I read all your story concepts
When I listen to our favorite songs
And I feel the same passion you always felt.
You are my creative spark
You are the little girl who wasn’t afraid
To run with the wolves
You are my heart
The foundation of what I am
When I smile it is with your teeth
Pumping through my heart and coursing through my veins
It is your blood
And all that I love in myself
Is from all that I love in you
My baby girl
I promise you we are going to do great things one day
I’m sorry I tried to kill you.
Love,
Lucy
Lucy, I am so proud of you. You have overcome so much in your life and I truly admire everything that you have done to help find yourself. I know it was a long journey, but you have earned it. Your childhood may not have been the best time for you, but you can’t just throw it away. If little Lucy didn’t exist, grown-up Lucy wouldn’t be here today,…read more
imposter
concealment
limiting
our lives
our potential
fear…
the world will find us out
public faces
private faces
is there anything in between
how do we negotiate
rigid expectations
pressure
roles
identify
release
overcome
James, this is a wonderful poem. You have been through a lot and I am so proud of you for being able to overcome that. You have become such an amazing person with wise and admirable words to share with the world. You are not alone in what you have experienced, I am sure that many other little boys needed to hear this along with you. I am so glad…read more
In the mirror, I see a reflection of strength,
A journey embarked, a hundred pounds in length.
The lesson learned, profound and clear,
To love oneself, banish every fear.
I started afresh, on the path to fitness,
Shedding weight, embracing self-witness.
A realization struck, deep and true,
Someone out there, inspired by you.
As I walk this road, each step a feat,
In someone’s eyes, admiration discreet.
Not just a number on the scale,
But a beacon of hope, a heartwarming tale.
I stand here now, proud and free,
Beauty defined by more than what you see.
No matter the weight, big or small,
Self-love shines, the greatest of all.
So to myself, I vow this day,
To cherish, honor, in every way.
For in my journey, I’ve come to see,
The beauty within, the key to me.
When I was just a girl I asked my mother what the point of life was, she told me that the point of life is to experience it, experience it in every way imaginable. From the highest highs to the lowest lows, experience is the point of life.
Mother knows best, maybe an old cliche, but on this, she is right, you know:
The point of life is not the car you drive,
But the people you drove to meet with it.
The point of life is not the money you make,
But the moments you created with it.
It’s not the car that gave me experience, but the memories and moments that came with it:
“Dad’s Truck” came with its own set of nuanced experiences.
– “That Star” I still see in the sky, was a shared moment in the bed of my blue truck,
“The hardest day” will remain a stain on my bones, materials were lost, but never the memories made.
Experience is the point of life, not the money earned or the things we’ve lost. Experience increases in value, while your penny today could be crypto tomorrow. Is it money earned or time spent earning it that you remember the most?
Because for me, I’ve lived a full life with highs and lows, when experience was my only friend. I’ve ridden the waves of beautiful and ugly. The biggest lesson I’ve ever learned – life is experience: the good and the bad mixed in a swirling vortex of individualized experience.
Dear Ciara,
I know it can be hard to understand why your life felt so different from the other kids around you. I just need you to know I am so proud of the way you handled yourself amid situations that no child should have to endure, let alone comprehend and take charge of. The trauma that you carry from a childhood woven by threads of addiction, temporary safety, fleeting moments of security, trust issues, and abandonment is nothing short of the heaviest things a person could carry on their back. Yet, you have carried all of it with grace. I, future you, am still healing these wounds and learning how deeply they have impacted every aspect of our life. You have set such a good example for me with the way you showed up and stuck up for yourself. Not just when in defense of yourself, but also with how you chose peace, consideration, and faith over anger, violence, and frustration. Even though your negative feelings were valid in all of the situations you were forced to deal with, the fact that you made the conscious effort to consistently stay optimistic has served me well with the mindset I’ve been able to cultivate in the current years. You raised yourself with little guidance or intervention from the adults in your life, which is something no child should have to learn how to do and you had no other choice but to do it. Yet, you did such a good job. You are not only allowed but also deserve to be proud of who you have become and are still in the process of becoming. Despite having nobody to turn to for so long, the struggles you faced and circumstances you had no control over, have never stood in your way of blossoming into a beautiful and kind-hearted person. The way you also never blamed a single person for the things you dealt with, not even those who probably deserved to be blamed, is admirable. I know it’s not the most light-hearted trait to celebrate but your resilience is what I love the most about you. Resilience is built up over time for most people but you have already proven to be stronger and more capable than many will ever have to be. For this, I am forever grateful to you.
Aww, Ciara, this is a great piece. You are so incredibly strong for getting through all of that and I am glad that you have started to heal. Nobody ever wanted you to feel the way that you did. You were not forgotten, you are so loved. Little you would be so proud of who she has become. You are an amazing person with such a great heart full of…read more
Wide- eyed child.
Who are you now?
Jagged and smooth child,
Your arms twist and you twirl in the bright sunlight beaming through the window.
Your bulging eyes are put to rest
Shut them as you spin and jump and jive to a sweet melody from your father’s collection.
Pensive child!
Long nights spent in thoughtful stupor
Frantic scribblings of worry and love within the spiraled notebook
Machinations of your mind’s eye
In the form of jejune prose and self portraits.
Oh, you sweet child
Declarations of gratitude dedicated to all the love you’ve ever known-
Here is my origin! These are my makers. They love me and I adore them.
This is written on the countless of your attempts to recreate their image.
Your eyes swell up with love, you cry near every night into your pillow.
“Do they know how much they mean to me? My mother’s gracious eyes and my father’s crooked teeth peeking from his teasing smile?”
Yes, adored child, they know.
Wily child
Your existence is soaked in verve.
From your discombobulated image-
Milky, a crow’s coat sprouting from your excitable head
A pair of eyes that overwhelm their subjects
Fae footprints that dance over your nose and across both cheeks
You’re dressed in every color you have ever seen
Your small hands create testimonies of love, they write stories
Flowing from your bitten fingertips, your perception is exposed.
No one has ever been spared from your yearning to understand them
And your willingness to love them
Your readiness to show it
I have always loved you,
Vivacious and intriguing child
You follow me everywhere.
“Who am I now?”
You are the passion within me, you are love and you are naivety.
You are the giver of my admirations, you are the perceptive and the gracious.
The fire and awe within my soul, the desire to create, the willingness to love without regard.
The merciful and the impatient,
The petulant and the wondrous.
You keep me grounded
In a world that cannot ever be mine
But you and I will always be each other’s.
Oh, me, myself, my child
What I wouldn’t give to be held by your wide and merciful eyes.
Anzie, what a beautiful poem. The connection that you have with your younger self will never die. Chapter one of a book may have its ups and downs, but it is the foundation of the story, so it can never be forgotten! You are amazing and so strong and even though you may think it is easier to just live freely as a kid, you are evolving into such a…read more
You are so sweet,
So kind
So loving
You are so precious.
So beautiful
And so stunning.
Yet it is your soul that radiates
It is your vibrancy that gleams
From the inside
You are precious, a dainty little thing
Soft as a flower, gentle as a duckling.
You are so sweet, so kind, and so tender
This world tries to smother you down with it,
You keep me afloat during it all.
You remind me that peace, goodness, and love are qualities that should not be forgotten.
That even through the most trying of times, love should outweigh the pain.
Your forgiveness is awe-inspiring. You truly are too good to be true. You extend a hand to anyone in need and offer your strong back to carry the weight of others. You let your light guide your way, and it is captivating.
You are radiant.
A true gem
Light on earth.
Thank you for dancing through fields of dandelions and laughing every chance you get. Thank you for taking care of others and reminding everyone that kindness goes a long way. You are an inspiration to us all.
You are brave, bold, tenacious, and sometimes too hard on yourself.
You should allow others to see just how beautiful you can be.
Lillian, this is a very inspirational piece. You have become a fantastic person because of the challenges you’ve had to endure. Without them, you wouldn’t be the wise and capable person that you are today. It can be difficult to express who we are, but now that you look back on your childhood, I hope you can see how much more confident you could…read more
Hello! Good Morning! Welcome awake!
She says to the world as she takes her place
She grins and smiles up at the sun
The journey begins, it’s 9:01
It’s a new day and the search begins
She’s looking for something she’ll find within
She looks under the tree where the faeries go,
Then by the lavender flowers that make her potions glow
Papas truck bed will make her fly
she’ll look all through the stars as she soars through the sky.
She’ll find it in the fort she and her sister made
Or maybe on her mother’s chest, where her head is laid.
She has it when she dances, spins, in the rain
It comes when daddy kisses away her pain
With a heart so big and a mind so wide
Her happiness is never hard to find
An amazing little girl the world gets to know
Just remember to keep looking for it as you grow.
Ariel, I love this! Keeping yourself happy and feeling good about yourself is so important as you get older. Finding people who radiate such positive energy is so lovely and I aspire to be more like you! I love that you want to continue to find peace and happiness as you grow. You have become such a wonderful person, keep up the great work!…read more
You will have many bumps and obstacles as you continue through life, but just remember your resilience and determination has gotten you to where you are now are key things to getting through turmoil in the future.
You have had Epilepsy since you were 1.5 years old and instead of hiding it from others and being afraid of it, your approach was much different. You wanted to educate yourself about it, advocate for the Epilepsy community, and adapt your lifestyle due to side effects of medicine and Epilepsy. For example, through school, you created your own test and did in parts, with repeating of various parts, over multiple days. You did not let Epilepsy hold you back. You averaged a B no matter the subject, course difficulty, or what else was going on in your life.
Some things you did as a child, that some might not do if they have Epilepsy or another disability, are you at some point or another played almost every sport, you travelled on a bunch of mission trips to places like Wyoming and Honduras that were not right next door, and you did water rides and amusement rides.
Your Seizures had been dormant for almost 8 years and then re-emerged at the end of your first semester of your Senior year of College. Through your resilience and determination, you still graduated on time, kept your grades up, and you stayed an officer in 3 different clubs.
Then you decided to get brain surgery. After you had brain surgery, your neurologist told you that by looking at your brain, he was surprised that you had made it as far as you had and as successfully as you had. Your approach after brain surgery was, like the rest of your life, to not throw in the towel. You did a lot of volunteer work in your community and then went to two part-time jobs and then went to one full-time job in another state.
Things again seemed dormant. You went almost 8 years seizure free again, you lived on your own, you were driving, you were working full-time, and then things changed. You had seizures re-emerge and had some other things happen in your life. You did not give up though. You kept working full-time, volunteering for organizations at a local and national level, and figured out many methods of transportation.
You have always been determined not to let Epilepsy defeat you. Keep it up.
Wow, Matthew, I am so proud of you! Even with such a difficult disorder to manage, you persevered so beautifully and always achieved great things! I am blown away by the strength you have and have always had. You inspire me!! You are an incredible person with so much to offer for the world! Keep up the great work ☺
Awww this is so cute! I feel like this is how every child/ person should feel: powerful, fearless, and free. I hope you continue to hold and embody younger you. Thanks for sharing and thank you for being part of The Unsealed. <3 Lauren
You sit on the couch with a lamp on
Writing a poem
Bananas on the coffee table
Are ripening.
You’re creative
Unique
Expressing yourself authentically
Resolute
You observe carefully
Sensing the world around you
You contain depth and wisdom
A counter to a mainstream thought process
Seeing details and complexities
You feel everything deeply
You write to make sense
Of the world around you
The bananas are ripe.
You feel inadequate
You harden your shell
The bananas are overripe.
You stop writing poetry
The bananas rot.
Fruit flies swarm
And colonize
How you feel about who you’ve become
In comparison to who you were
But then an opportunity appears
To revisit the past
When the bananas were beginning to ripen
To write a poem
To your inner child
Where you’re reminded of the little girl
Who was unique
Creative
Resolute
Who wrote to make sense of her world
And remember
That the inner child hasn’t been lost
These qualities still exist within her
A vinegar and dish soap trap
The fruit flies give out
Creativity
Uniqueness
Determination
Are coaxed out
And she is once again writing a poem
I always say we the goal is we grow is not to become someone knew but rather to stay true to who we have always been, and then become the best version of her/him. This piece reminded me so much of that sentiment. I love this part, “ou’re reminded of the little girl
Who was unique
Creative
Resolute
Who wrote to make sense of her world
And r…read more
Aww I absolutely love this (even though it makes me feel old. I was a sophomore in college in 2004). It sounds like you were extremely sweet, curious, and appreciative of the little things in life. I hope you always carry your little self’s energy and spirit because she sounds pretty wonderful. Thank you for sharing and for being part of The…read more
Dear Kelsey, I saw your tears,
In times of doubt and valid fears.
This letter is to show you how
Your tears have built what you have now.
They told you not to cry, to keep
Your tears for something more deep.
But still you cried, out of sight,
And used tears for your dreams’ delight.
Remember when you ran that race,
you went to the bathroom to have some space.
On the way back you were met with disdain, You let their words fuel your pain.
A friend who turned her back so cold,
Her words, the sharpest, loudest bold.
Each bullet word, it pierced you through,
Yet stoic, strong, you never withdrew.
You took that hurt and raced ahead,
With lungs on fire, eyes seeing red.
You came in first, with pain as fuel, Transforming hurt, your special tool.
Transmutation is your super power,
From tears, your strength blossoms like a flower.
Abuse, rejection, hate, and scorn,
All turned to love, a new you born.
What I love most about you is this,
You take pain and make happiness.
Your tears now form a mighty sea,
Of justice, love, and harmony.
You honor body, spirit whole,
An inspiration, from your heart and soul.
Fearless, towards your dreams you run,
With love, your journey’s just begun.
Authentic, true in all you do,
Forever, always, Kelsey, you.
Kelsey! I am so sorry you experienced hurt, but what this poem describes is someone who is incredibly resilient. And that’s a reason to be very proud of younger you and the person you are today. I love this line, “Transmutation is your super power,
From tears, your strength blossoms like a flower. ”
I was a sensitive child, too. I am so glad you…read more