https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/if-they-stayed-a-letter-to-you-by-kristin-ryan/
Powerful piece by Kristin. With many thanks to her, and also thanks to ‘I am not a silent poet’ and Reuben Woolley.
Palace Gate Counselling Service, Exeter
Counselling Exeter since 1994
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Thank you for sharing this. My hope has always been that others would know they’re not alone through my poetry. All Best, Kristin Ryan
Hello Kristin. You’re welcome, and thank you for your comment. Yes, I think personal experiences shared – be that through poetry or music or blogging or another means – can be deeply empowering and helpful for others, in what is so often a desperately lonely and isolating place….Seems like a courageous and a loving thing to offer. There’s a James Baldwin quote, which feels relevant: “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.” Although the ‘books’ may often be computer screens these days… Voicing our own painful experience often feels to me a bit like reaching out an invisible hand to someone else who has suffered or is suffering. I think that’s a big part of what therapy is for, too – not to feel alone any more, and to be heard and witnessed. Lindsey