“I never thought I would feel lucky to have pain dripping from my pores, pain stuck to the pads of my fingers, to the bottoms of my feet, to have pain become the core of my identity in an instant, but here I am.” PainSufferingLossSadnessGratitudeDepressionBereavement Book:Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems Source: Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems
“I feel disconnected from the people who I know have not experienced the exposed nerves of a close loved one yanked by pliers from one's jaws. I am different from them now. They can’t know the festering wound staining my teeth red, can't know the taste of salt and iron in everything I eat.” PainDeathLossGriefCancerTraumaBereavement Book:Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems Source: Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems
“Two great pains mark my grief trail like cairns: knowing that it was going to happen, and it happening. But unlike cairns, I can never navigate back the way I came.” PainLossGriefDepressionCancerBereavementDiagnosisCairns Book:Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems Source: Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems