My poem, Re-Emergence, tells two ongoing stories of healing. It is the story of finding within myself the words I most needed to pull myself out of years of deep, debilitating grief. It is also the story of reaching the point in my life where I could no longer tolerate the idea of remaining unseen. I have made myself small and invisible for most of my life because attention of any kind has always made me feel deeply unsafe.

I am re-emerging from grief, though my grief lives with me every day, and I am emerging as my true self. It is terrifying and exhilarating and utterly overwhelming.

The Re-Emergence Collection is dedicated to everyone who struggles to be vulnerable and to everyone who struggles with the fear of leaving the familiarity of the known, even when the known isn’t particularly comfortable or healthy. It is a celebration of the courage it takes to choose joy and to live authentically as ourselves.

I chose the colors of a sunrise because it feels, truly, like light is dawning for me at the end of so many years of darkness.