I wrote a book

and I'm posting it here...

I’ve been writing poetry for the past several years as an outlet to process all of my big feelings. I think I might have come to the planet with more feelings than most. Since I was a little girl, waves of emotion would overcome me and at times they made me afraid. They definitely made me feel different. As much as I love to feel different now and giggle at the weird things I think or do, all I wished for growing up was to fit in. And that’s not uncommon. It’s completely developmentally appropriate to want to fit in with our peers as we move from our family into the world. But the world was a scary place for me because my body would react in big ways I didn’t always understand.

It’s one of the reasons I dove into psychology and somatic training. Understanding my body and it’s responses has helped me make sense of my world, and poetry has helped me express myself through my growth and healing process.

I’ll never forget the first poem I wrote for this collection and how it felt like the beginning of something. It was years ago on a beach in Laguna. I had gone down to the beach to get away from the house and take some much needed alone time in a season of mothering 3 of my children all under the age of 5. It was an intense time for me and I could feel claustrophobic at times. The ocean always reminded me of how expansive life is. Once I had walked through the shoreline for a while, I sat down, pulled out my phone, and wrote the poem in a matter of minutes. It came whole and complete as many of the poems in the book did. Like a download from the universe or a message from Spirit. Many of the poems in this collection arrived that way.

After spending time sending the manuscript to literary agents and receiving no response, I decided to begin sharing it piece by piece here on Substack. It feels more aligned, in a way. Each poem gets its own moment to be digested and integrated. It took me years to write this collection, so it feels right that it should take time to find its way into the world.

I’ve named this account Sacred Human Journal after the name of my book of poetry, Sacred Human. So I welcome you to the beginning of a journey. I hope you enjoy the poems as they become interwoven with my other posts here. For those reading who might be interested in becoming a paid subscriber to this page, I am offering audio recordings of the poems. This first one is on me. The book begins with a poem I call, I’m not broken, I’m human.

Here is the audio recording in my voice reading I’m not broken, I’m human:

And here are some personal reflections on the poem: