A few Christmases ago, I received a book called Healing Through Words, by poet Rupi Kaur. One of the exercises is to write a list poem based on one of several suggested topics, including grief, hope, friendship, shame, self-doubt, and, of course, anxiety. If you know me well, you know anxiety is my archenemy, and, so, that’s where my mind went.
Anxiety: A List Poem
Anxiety is:
— a shadow crawling in my wake
— aging
— an overloaded schedule
— too much time on my hands
— the fear of saying “no”
— the fear of saying “yes”
— currents of extreme heat
— nausea
— silent screaming
— the impulse to escape
— abandoning myself
— choosing me
— wondering when I will die
— the loss of a parent
— motherhood without a village
— a barking cough
— a child calling in the night
— a wide-open field with nowhere to run
— a trampled, overgrown garden
— dark corners and sharp edges
— a cocked trigger waiting to be pulled
— the only way I know how to live
*Image by Pexels from Pixabay.