Divorce and Change- "I Remember" Poetics

Writing the "I Remember" poem was quite an experience for me. I chose to write about my experiences surrounding my parents divorce and my father's struggles with alcoholism. I have never really shared my feelings or thoughts about their divorce with anyone, let alone a class of strangers. This poem was sort of a break through for me because for the first time I understood the power of poetry. Reading my poem evoked real emotions in me and breaking down in class was surprising because I am normally excellent at controlling my feelings or keeping them inside. Poetry was a foreign thing to me at the beginning of this class and while I tried hard to evoke emotions in my other poems this "I Remember" poem was my favorite to write. I have never used writing as a way to express myself or anything like that, which is quite obvious because my grammar is not up to par, but this poem taught me that it can be healing. I felt a calm after writing and re-reading my poem I have never experienced before. I plan on keeping this poem as sort of a work in progress for a long time to help me move on from my past experience with my parents divorce.