Empowering survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse from around the globe, connecting and healing collectively through poetry.
#globalpoetrymovement
Recent Poems
Poison
Come join me,
In the dark.
I’ll make room for you,
Wake up your body,
Open your heart.
I’ll swallow your pain,
The poison I deserve.
It can’t kill me,
I am already dead.
S. Kohlman | Canada
It can be a struggle to have healthy relationships after CSA. At the time I was feeling responsible for the difficulties and felt hopeless and alone in the darkness.
Tired
I’m tired.
Leave me by the hospital doors,
No looking back.
Avoid my eyes,
Don’t hear my pain.
No more need to measure my worth with your measuring cups.
Give back my love before you go,
Should I try to build it again.
I’m tired,
My Dragon Lady, burning it all down.
Nowhere to anchor
So much haze
She’s so small,
She doesn’t know where to go, what to do.
Wishes she didn’t survive
This life not worth living
She can’t feel with half a heart,
Or navigate your rules.
Don’t take the chance,
She’s not safe for you.
Cover her eyes
Shut her mouth
Plug your ears
She can’t run with numb legs
Her cries won’t stop
Leave it all at the hospital doors
Save yourself
Wash your hands
Take your broken heart.
S. Kohlman | Canada
Navigating adult love relationships as a survivor is tricky when we don’t have the tools or understanding. Our behaviors can be hurtful to our families when we are fiercely protecting our little ones from feeling in unhelpful ways that are no longer serving us. I wrote this during a dark place where I didn’t have the skills to navigate my relationship in a healthy way.
Legacy of Healing
I was the quiet child with eyes cast down,
hid in the shadows, shrinking small,
while we wore the guise of a family crowned,
and smiled for the world, dressed up and all,
our “perfect life” a brittle wall.
In our home, storms would break and swell—
a father’s voice, a crashing wave,
a mother bending to catch and quell
the pieces left for her to save,
while praying for strength, though none she gave.
We fled our land for a brighter shore,
dreamed of peace and kinder years,
but found old wounds turned raw once more,
as hope gave way to hidden tears—
and no one guessed our smiles hid fears.
A lonely child with secrets kept,
I clutched my silence like a prize,
and walked the path where sorrow slept,
until the past began to rise
and brought me back with sharper eyes.
Now as a mother, I face the night,
where buried memories stir and ache,
and hold my children close and tight,
to guard the love I’ll never break—
their tender hearts, no harm shall take.
Each day, I learn to heal the seams,
to weave new warmth from threads of pain,
unlearning shadows and shattered dreams,
so love may bloom without the stain
of anger’s curse, of bruised refrain.
This journey now is one of grace,
of mending wounds I thought would stay,
for healing is the light I trace,
reclaiming joy along the way—
and finding peace where scars once lay.
Rosalia Rivera | Canada
Writing this helped me witness my own journey from pain and fear to taking back my power and healing…