From Despair to Hope (Unabridged)

Life is a journey, different for everyone. Yet we all deal with problems and joys on this journey. I reflected on my journey in poetry. As I slowly shared my poetry with others, they insisted that I share it with a wider audience. I never felt my poetry was that good or that important, but every time I shared it, it seemed to touch the people who listened to it or read it.

With this book, I am stepping way outside my comfort zone in the hope that the people urging me to share more of my poetry with a wider audience are right, that the poems do touch people and that I have something to say.

Depression - or as I prefer to call it, "The Big D" - has been a companion on my life journey since I was nine. As a teenager, my answer was to shut down and shut out everyone, preferring death to living. By the grace of God, I never carried out my suicide plans. When I turned thirty, I sought help. It took almost ten years to fi nd a medication combination that consistently worked. At that point, talk therapy with my fourth therapist began to make sense and make a diff erence. My poetry became an integral part of my therapy and recovery from the Big D.