Poetic Remedy No. 14

I spent years looking at other people and wondering what they had that I didn’t. They seemed to moved through life like they belonged here, while I was constantly trying to blend in or shape-shift just to keep from being rejected.

When you grow up in a house where you aren’t seen, you automatically assume you are the problem. You think you’re defective.

It took me years to realize I was never broken. I was just trying to squeeze myself into rooms that were way too small for me.

This poetic remedy is for the ones who grew up wondering if there was ever going to be a place for them in this world.

Poetic Remedy No. 14

for a long time
you were overlooked.

in the places that should have seen you.

in the rooms that should have stopped
and said you matter here.

you watched other people
move through their lives
with a certainty
you couldn’t find in yourself.

and you wondered
if there was something wrong with you.

if you had missed something
everyone else seemed to have been given.

you carried that question
through childhood
through the years that followed
through all the versions of yourself
you tried on
looking for the one that fit.

and now…

there is a calm in you
that wasn’t there before.

an ease
in the way you move
through your own life.

a knowing
that this place you have built
belongs to you.

you were never in the wrong place.

you just hadn’t found your way home yet.

— Debra King

Beautiful Things Grow Here

Poetic Remedy No. 14 is now available as a poetry print, created to offer a little comfort on the days you need it most.

Grab it here!

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Debra King is a writer, award-winning poet, and trauma-informed writing coach with training in somatic therapy, exploring emotional healing, chronic pain, childhood trauma, and the hard work of rebuilding yourself after survival.

Beautiful Things Grow Here is her space for personal essays, poetry, and honest reflections on the body, grief, healing, and becoming softer with yourself.