Childhood Fantasy

Walk cleanly away

“No” means no.

No, thank you.

No more.

Strong, secure, healthy bonds

Genuine emotional connection

Permission to safely express 

my thoughts and feelings

Clear communication

Pure intention

Best interest

always.

Reconnecting with my inner child

Butterflies, bubbles, and breeze

Realizing that I am safe now.

It is safe now

to reconnect

to heal

to grow

to share

to speak

to be

No longer a fantasy,

but a reality.

Here and now. 

Written by Rose A. Fitzgerald during a Therapeutic Poetry Workshop courtesy of SocietyX with Ziara Kýre York regarding fantasy and reconnecting with your inner child.

"Dear John"

No more

No, thank you

I am not your hidden desire

I am not your secret love(r)

I am not your hot-cold or lukewarm comfort

I am empowered, 

I am beautiful,

I am smart,

I am kind,

I am desirable

and you, dear John.. should consider yourself lucky

to have ever even had the privilege to perceive me in your realm 

I am beautiful,

I am wanted,

I am power(ful),

I am love(d),

I deserve to be cherished and supported.

Fully. Completely. Entirely. Publicly.

If only you knew.

If only you could 

     appreciate what and who I truly am.

If only you could..

Too bad, 

    how terribly sad

                           —for you.

I am committed to myself now.

I respect myself.

I value myself.

and that is all I need, thank you.

Sincerely,
No longer yours

Me, myself, and I (owe you nothing)
No more

[repeat as/if needed]

Written by Rose A. Fitzgerald during a Therapeutic Poetry Workshop courtesy of SocietyX with Lisa Ann Markuson regarding "Dear John"/Goodbye letters.

Within

I have petals, I have thorns.

I am soft, I am hard.

I am leather, I am lace.

I am sensitive, I am assertive.

I have a peaceful arsenal.

I am an emotional badass.

I am a depressed ray of freaking sunshine.

I have shadow, anger, and stillness.

I am light, love, and vibration.

Written by Rose A. Fitzgerald during a Therapeutic Poetry Workshop courtesy of SocietyX with Lisa Ann Markuson regarding facets of self in the midst of a patriarchal society.

Familiar (dis)Comfort

More often than not, I enjoy my own company
I watch smoke and steam rise
I stop and smell roses
I listen to live music
I feel the cool breeze or rain on my skin
I laugh voraciously at the promise of good food

I have learned and practiced

Talking kindly to myself

I have been comfortable eating alone for as long as I can remember

But then again..

There are those times

Those dark

all-encompassing times

When I lose perspective

Where problems seem to swallow me whole

and

I hate myself

or rather, I hate the idea of myself

The pathetic, lonely, sad, pointless distorted version of me.

The “broken,” hopeless me.

The light times

The times when I love myself

or rather, love the idea of myself

Are generally preferable of course

Yet.. the dark times are so familiar

that I find a sense of bricked comfort

in the routine of it,

The tears, the heartache, the self-hatred

The familiar rutted pattern

Arising and arriving less frequently, and less intensely than before

Productive progress and self-improvement at its finest

but they still come. Will they ever not come?

Written by Rose A. Fitzgerald during a Therapeutic Poetry Workshop courtesy of SocietyX with Lisa Ann Markuson regarding privacy and production.

Who's to say?

“She’s got it all together!”
I’m barely holding it together..

“She’s courageous, she’s annoying, she’s brilliant, she’s too much”

I’m trying, I’m enjoying, I’m learning, I am enough.

Written by Rose A. Fitzgerald during a Therapeutic Poetry Workshop courtesy of SocietyX with Lisa Ann Markuson regarding public / private self.