How Poetry Saved My Life
Words shared by poet and author, Cassandra Mackenzie Wood
Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash
The moment I began to write,
Was when
The pain started to taste,
Less like silver,
And a little more like poetry.
I began writing poetry in the early spring of 2018. I was struggling with my mental health, and more so, how to communicate my emotions to others in order to reach out and get the help I needed.
I found it very difficult to articulate the very feelings I had yet to understand.
As my mental health improved, I felt empowered.
And so, I turned to poetry.
It was like a friend, who listened to each of my thoughts without judgment, and who provided me with insight when I failed to on my own. Some of my most vulnerable and intimate poems were my earliest works.
They detailed my experiences with anxiety and depression and to this day, remain tucked away neatly in a notebook in my closet.
I’ve got knots,
Not just in my hair,
But in my stomach,
My back, my bones,
My mind.
It aches.
It was soon after that I built the courage and confidence to share my poems online, on Instagram, to the now 5000 strong audience of @CM.Writer.
The rewards were immediate, as I began to discover other writers like myself, feeling similar things… I realized I was never as alone as I thought.
Gradually, poetry transformed, from a form of expression that validated my feelings, to one that healed me.
It is as if simultaneously, poetry became a window to my soul and a doorway to the entire world.
As my mental health improved, I felt empowered. I had the courage to heal, to try my best to see life as if the sun shone in every corner of every room.
I was overflowing with excitement and joy, not only for myself but for my readers, who told me that my words were reaching them, and helping them as well.
I wanted to channel this empowerment into a debut poetry book and thus, The Roots of a Goddess was formed, my first, self-published anthology. Personally, this project gave me the closure I needed.
It was a departure from the hardships I experienced. I published The Roots of a Goddess in October 2019… essentially a year and a half since I began writing poetry.
The publication follows the natural life cycle of a flower, as it progresses from dormancy, through growth and flowering to dispersal.
This transformation resembles my journey of self-discovery, healing, and reflection.
And now, in the pages of this collection, You have read my soul.
You now know of my inner frictions,
Of my journey to self-love,
Of my quest to worship all that I am.
I am a goddess,
And my life has just begun.
All that has happened, Is only my roots.
Since then, my writing has continued to improve. Poetry brings me continual joy, as I reach self-contentment with myself, and help my readers who are on their own journeys to recovery.
Each vulnerable poem I share, it seems, gives a voice to someone struggling. It encourages me to share more personal poems that detail my experiences with mental health, discovering my sexuality, and being a young woman.
I continually channel this spirit of empowerment into my poems and my upcoming projects (there will be big reveals coming soon).
In essence, being brave enough to start, to write one poem, one line, one word, is like planting a seed.
I am forever thankful I started, way back during those dark days of early 2018, because now, summer 2020, I walk in the most beautiful of gardens.
And it is all grown from my sweat, tears and grief… it is my creation.
Crumbling is not your destruction,
It is your rebirth.
Thank you Cassandra for this submission.
Follow Cassandra here and find a copy of her book “The Roots of a Goddess“ on Amazon.
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