Bearing Witness with Poetry

An article writen by Diane Hirt, MS, NCC, LPC a therapist who works with survivors of ritual abuse torture about the value of bearing witness through poetry.

As a therapist she runs the risk of developing secondary victimization, or rather vicarious victimization. She learned to utilize poetry as a theraputic tool for herself in order to continue as an effective care giver and to withstand the effects of witnessing the trauma of her patients due to acts of what she calls evil . Included are a few of her own wonderful poems.

The article echo's the sentiments I've begun to develop regarding the use of poetry as therapy.
The mind images, the snippets of conversation, partial phrases that circulate in ones head need an outlet. If the person experiencing such symptoms is unable to excersize those "tapes" through the conscious and constructive application of their will, the so called tapes will manifest on their own. Unconscious urges to cut one self, to purge oneself, to harm oneself may bubble to the surface. This often precipitates self medication through drugs or alcohol or other destructive activities and or attitudes. see my poem Pour Me Out, an illustration of this concept. A very short poem. Also see I'm a little bit hot, a spoof of the childhood pantomime as alluded to in Pour Me out.