Poems of My Salvation

ISBN-13: 9781434346070 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 100 str.

Neils C. Dunn

Opis

Poetry has always been a savior of sorts to me in that it provided a place to go when there was no place to go or no one to whom I could turn. When my feelings began to overwhelm me I just found a pen and paper and it all went away until the next time. These feelings run the emotional spectrum. However, most poems came at a time of high distress. I was the eighth of my mother's nine children. Being among the youngest I absorbed quite a bit of energy and inevitable stress from my older siblings, all of whom left home before I was nine leaving me with quite a bit to figure out on my own. The family moved around rather often never settling for more than a few short years in one neighborhood. This contributed to constant re-socializing in new areas and new schools-five elementary schools, two junior high schools and two high schools. Dealing with social isolation, fractured friendships and the onslaught on the culture of youth was all too familiar to me. Attending college at Howard University exclusively provided some relief in that it was the only undergraduate school I attended. Ironically that is when the flow of many of the enclosed poems really began. Through the years of my twenties and early thirties, I worked in different fields, never really feeling in my element or at my potential. As was the case in earlier life and maybe as a function of my outward appearance and race, I was often judged quickly and denied many opportunities for jobs. There was a fair degree of self-doubt and sadness that I experienced during these times that led to bouts with depression and panic attacks which were downright crippling at times. My poems helped me through much of this and I truly believe gave me the strength to fight on and attain greater inner peace and happiness. I earned my Masters degree in Teaching at John Hopkins University. I am now a teacher who seeks not only to provide the best education I can deliver, but also make it my personal duty to tea