bewildered we infants cry between fleeting momentsbarely sensing our breached safety our delicate psychic shoots uprooted by stress, de-stressbetween screams, barely time to catch our breath,exhausted beyond recovery, entombed top to toe uncle Donald named our catastrophic collapse ‘privation’precursor to Bowlby’s maternal ‘deprivation’,my co-dependency led me to fear breakdown, nowconfused after your absence, I awaken […]
My Therapeutic Dance I ebb and flow through peek-a-boo’s sweet dare,in fleeting gestures when our life began to dance,what falls away will find its way around. Your smile appears, then hides — now I know it’s still there,ready to revive my heavy heart’s shadowy trance,I ebb and flow through peek-a-boo’s sweet dare. Though fear disrupts, […]
Safe-enough I witnessed my mother survive the murder of her mother and sister. As time ticked away we traced your grief’s thread, enmeshed in our mutual self-exile. we play peek-a-boo,befuddled frazzled – I emerge beloved. George Halasz, 2024
malaise unmaskedBy George Halasz my story began before my birthbefore becoming self awareunable to self reflect, before metaphorI could not distinguish my depressionfrom free fall into deep regression I glimpsed between your piercing glancesinvisible circumstances emergedenmeshed threads of resentmentbetween love entwined, co-dependence our life-journey aligned through troughs of illusionfinally grief ruptured our bonds, after shockI […]
Lost and Found through GriefBy George Halasz I reassured myself, if I prepare well enoughI reassured myself, if I rehearse my reactionsI reassured myself, I might lessen the anticipated piercing painthe moment which will catch my breath, my mother’s death. For many weeks before I lived my life on probationhovering beween privation I learnt to […]
Nowheresville How can I regulate my extreme sense of alienation,witnessing unfiltered sobs of my mother’s demise,can we bridge our mutual privation? Overwhelmed, I barely flinched, my eyes drained drymy energy spent, of course, next day, I smiled ‘Hi’. I resumed my stylised plight breath after breath,sliding from shame to self-blame, crevices melded intorupturing nightmares, night […]
Languid branches above, cool air below, A path in the forest – so much to know… Ageless trees growing to the sky, You can speak to the dimness and the birds reply, You can speak to the dimness and the birds reply… Unshackled, his soul struggled to find any grounding limits. His mind became filled […]
March 21 is World Poetry Day. On the UNESCO website for the day, poetry is described as a vitally important and universal form of cultural expression: “Practiced throughout history – in every culture and on every continent – poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a […]
Poet’s Corner is an organic grouping of ISSTD members who share with each other poems that they have created, and which frequently encompass themes related to member’s work as trauma-informed therapists. On occasions the group come together for online recitals to share such productions with the wider ISSTD community. These poems then become available for […]
not yet knowing where your body endsand mine begins, I need your playto make amendsto re-pair our self-fractured dividends again, I listen to your curative narrative I insert myself between your gestured silenceto relive shared stresses, endless violence within and without, we’re urgently buffeted between unspoken sensationsor floundering in each other’s treacherous privations eventually we […]
