“The poet is a reporter interviewing his own heart.”

Christopher Morely

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Poetry at times can be beautiful. It can bring tears to your eyes and joy to your heart but as with anything it also has the ability to become something dark and disturbing. I try to make a point of reading samples of poetry from as many poets as I can. Some of the most touching poems are not about happy moments running through fields of flowers with birds flying around, but of deep sadness and pain.

On a regular basis I make purchases from thrift bookstores on eBay. A book arrived at my home recently and I knew reading it was going to be extremely difficult. It’s a selection of poetry written by young people who have had to deal with divorcing parents. The book is titled “broken hearts… healing”, Young Poets Speaking Out, compiled and edited by Tom Worthen, Ph.D. I just finished reading the first half of that book and it forced me to deal with the pain I caused to my own son. Many years ago, I ended a twenty-year marriage and caused a great deal of pain to a young man that we adopted (at age twelve) from a number of state-run foster homes. He deserved better than we were able to give him at the time, and this book brought it all back with a vengeance. Here are two poems that brought tears to my eyes.

TUG OF WAR

Nobody has the life I have,

I can’t imagine if the whole world did.

My parents don’t even talk,

They get to ask who wants us and when.

It is like me and my two sisters are in the middle of everything.

So I hope you don’t have the life I have,

And if you do I’m sorry.

by Beth, Age 11

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WHERE IS MY DAD?

He comes around like he cares,

but when I was young he was not there.

He has a new family and a wife to love dear,

when I was around he made me feel weird.

When I was alone crying in my bed,

was he there, no, it was mom instead.

When I look at my friends with their moms and dads,

I think if he didn’t mess it up,

Oh, what I could have had!

by Dana, Age 13

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