Cry With Me Sister We Rise At Dawn

<p>Dear Reader</p><p></p><p></p><p>For over a decade I kept my experience of sexual abuse a complete secret. I needed to disassociate and pretend it didn't happen because if it did it was real. And I had no</p><p>idea how to face that truth.</p><p></p><p>As my physical health declined and I exhausted every avenue for a diagnosis or root cause my family and I packed up and moved far from my home province to a little</p><p>sanctuary on the ocean.</p><p></p><p>It was there-on the land by the Bay of Fundy with the highest tides in the world-that every stitch of every seam began to unravel.</p><p></p><p>My body had been screaming for years under the weight of what I had stored. It finally burst open. The latch had unlocked.</p><p>Poetry began playing in my mind-one line then two then three-arriving mid-conversation or on a walk revealing my secrets page by page.</p><p></p><p>It was during this time that I broke.</p><p></p><p>What I didn't know then was that after years of hiding the best version of me would follow. That if I could allow myself to crumble-to sit in my feelings face my fears lay down my perfectionism part with my people-pleasing tendencies and reclaim my story-I would find not only my voice but also my self-worth self-love and courage. It was the hardest and the most rewarding season of my life.</p><p></p><p>This is a collection of the poems that carried me through allowing me to process my emotions lift the weight and unveil the goddess within.</p><p></p><p>And now these poems are yours.</p><p>Love</p><p>Krista-Lee</p>