Uprooting the Willow Tree Book

 

The poems reflect on how childhood abuse, coupled with bipolar disorder, affects an individual's psyche and relationships. The work is separated into three books: The Seed, Weeping, & Full Bloom. The Seed presents the source of the abuse and the emergence of bipolar symptoms, and Weeping is the subsequent issues faced in adulthood from such abuse and the disorder. Finally, Full Bloom is the adult coping with and the effect bipolar and abuse have on a positive romantic relationship.

 

Here are a few excerpts from Uprooting the Willow Tree:

 

"She was a blaze

The type that engulfs

Whole forests in a moment

With the misfortune Of being born

Deep below the sea"

  

"the beauty of the beast remains

mutilated yet stronger

even if I have to grasp the dirt with my fucking teeth

to crawl forward I’d rather die grotesque

than trail behind the paths chosen for me

so go ahead and pull

and watch the resolve

of a dying jackal"