Poetry Workshop
Poetry Workshop I
Poetry workshops
trauma and abuse
A room of fourteen teens
about to age out of foster care
Stories like swords
slicing my soul
Given up for adoption twice
Old enough to understand
being thrown away
Adoptive mom
will not tolerate
his behavior
dressed as a girl
while wearing
a Marie Osmond wig
Now in foster care
about to be
on their own
I explain that
poetry saved me
I liken it to taking out the trash
Marie Osmond
responds sweetly
"I have been called trash"
Poetry Workshop II
She is adorable
Tiny,
with a beach ball belly
This is her second
She tells me
she relates
to my poetry
about abuse
She
has been
in a program
for abused mothers
He broke in
when she wasn't home
he destroyed the place
that had become
her safe place
The agency insists
she move
They can not deal
with the damage to the space
Now she struggles
to find a place
to stay
until the baby arrives
HE said
she could come back HOME
She doesn't want to go
Poetry Workshop III
Tallest in the room
A perfect teeth smile
great manners
a planner
A senior in school
Already working 30 hrs a week
Coming out of the system
way ahead of the curve
Would only share
small parts of his writing
Joked about swear words
He bared concerns about
the world and possibilities
I think his future is bright
Thasia Anne is a retired social worker and lifelong poet from Erie Pennsylvania poet who has six books of poetry and four novels published through Alien Buddha Press. Thasia Anne also has Cable Access Media programming; Poetry, Prose, and Personalities and Never QuitHers. Thasia Anne has a yearly live poetry production WOW, or Women of Word with a Few Man Made Words which has been WOWing people for 12 years. Check her out on thasiaanne.com, or Thasia Anne Lunger on Facebook. She recommends the Mercy Center for Women.
