HOW? How do you give someone what they see in you without instructions? How do you allow others to see your sincerity without losing some of yourself and becoming undone? How do you learn from your mistakes and move on if you’re constantly reminded of them? How do you let 15 years of marriage go
WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, & HOW?
without resentment, anger, and grief?
HATS
How do you start a new relationship
Who
without bringing the past ones in?
Who decides how much pain motivates a person?
How do you forgive someone who uses Ex-felon.
the very things that traumatized you to hurt you?
What
Ex-convict.
And how do you let them back in
What right do people have to tell you that your love
Recovering addict, mental health client.
without fear, doubt, and confusion?
isn’t good enough? Maybe it’s all you’ve got to work with.
Ex-streetworker, incest survivor.
How do you tell all eight of your children
Ex-ward of the state on a PINS petition.
that they’ve been adopted because
Where
Ex-foster child, rape victim.
you chose to use drugs and run from your responsibilities?
Where does it state that I am incapable of success
HASA client.
And how do you tell them
because of my past or my ethnic background?
Welfare recipient.
that you don’t know who their fathers are,
Mother of 8.
except for the last two?
Why
Wife.
How do you pretend with the world
Why does the mind store past failures and pain,
High school graduate.
and not believe some of the roles you play?
the eyes play magic tricks, when only half
Music lover (instrumental and vocal).
And finally, how do you tell the very ones who believe in you
of what you see is real?
Singer.
that you can’t handle anything,
And why it is that the heart continues to long
Valedictorian.
that you’re not invincible,
for the inconceivable, the unachievable?
Patient.
and that you can’t handle even this? How
Overachiever.
Sindy Scott-Jenkins
Published poet.
How can you give the world what you never had?
A chameleon: Shamiqua, Candida, Zoraya, Dusty—
Sindy Scott-Jenkins
these were the names I went by on the street. Positive since 1985, a long-term survivor. An all-round winner.
Sindy Scott-Jenkins
Situations
8
Situations
9
