When you see her, tell her her daughter is tired but standing.Tell her the nights are long,and sometimes morning arrives without answers,but her child still wakes up hopeful. Tell her she is gratefulfor the hands that have held her through this season.She feels them every day,even when guilt dances on her faceand she doesn’t know… Continue reading Becoming
Tag: poetry
The Load
This load.Sometimes it takes up all the space in the room.It sits next to you, follows you around,refusing to be left behinduntil you start believing you're the only onebarely holding it together.This load,It breaks you until pain feels important.It walks around the room like it owns the place.For a moment,You don’t think about the woman… Continue reading The Load
My Book is on Selar!
I wrote my poetry ebook, The Shape of Survival, over the better part of last year. It wasn’t something I sat down and wrote day after day, rushing to finish a book. No. I wrote these poems on different days, when life was happening to me.I never posted them anywhere. So I finally decided to… Continue reading My Book is on Selar!
My Christmas Poem
I didn’t want to post this on Christmas Day and sound like I lacked the Christmas cheer. So this Christmas poem came a little late. It’s for those who were going through something. You all know I am big on healing through poetry, and while many of us were celebrating and carrying joy in our… Continue reading My Christmas Poem
The Shape of Survival
I didn’t plan to write this book. These are scattered lines and words I wrote as the came to my head. They are prayers I whispered sometimes, and sometimes moments I remembered that made me smile. Some days I just wrote because I wanted to breathe or let go of some pain I felt. These… Continue reading The Shape of Survival
Behind the Poem: I’m Still Broken
I wrote this poem after a conversation I had with someone close to my heart.A moment that could’ve ended everything — not because he did something wrong,but because my wounds were louder than his love. That’s the thing about healing… it’s not linear.Sometimes your heart still hears footsteps from the past,even when someone new is… Continue reading Behind the Poem: I’m Still Broken
To the Man Who Came During My Healing Journey
Thank you for standing by me when my heart was still learning to trust again. When my soul was mending itself, thread by fragile thread. You walked into my life at a time when love felt foreign, when my past had left a silence too loud to ignore. I won’t lie to you—I was hesitant.… Continue reading To the Man Who Came During My Healing Journey
How to Read and Appreciate Poetry Like a Poet
Let’s be honest—poetry can feel intimidating. You read a poem, and instead of feeling enlightened, you’re sitting there thinking, What did I just read? Been there. Done that. Even as a poet, some poems still make me pause, re-read, and sometimes Google their meaning. But here’s the thing: poetry isn’t meant to be “figured out”… Continue reading How to Read and Appreciate Poetry Like a Poet
If My Memories Could Speak
If my memories could speak, They would tell you of this little girl— This broke little girl who sat alone in quite corners,Hiding her pain behind polite smiles,Struggling to collect pieces of herself in trembling hands. They would tell you of the nights she cried,Soft sobs swallowed by silence,Of the mornings she woke up despite… Continue reading If My Memories Could Speak
These Unfinished Poems
There are days I stare at these drafts—these unfinished poems, these half-spoken truths. Stories complete, yet lack the courage to meet the world. Words I once longed to say, but never did. These unfinished poems, hanging like the painting on my wall— half-written, the ink bleeding into silence. Letters I meant to send, yet somehow never did. Did I forget… Continue reading These Unfinished Poems
Nancy Atieno's Notes 