By Cherrilynn Bisbano @bisbanowrites

April is National Poetry Month. I don’t consider myself a poet, however, I wrote poems while working at a radio station as I listened to music. The lyrics of the songs inspired me. I collected them in a journal. Most of my poetry rhymes. I even wrote a rap song about the apostle John. The last poem I wrote was in 2015. I share it below. It was part of my healing process.

Poetry is proven to help expand our vocabulary and express ourselves better as we break a few writing rules. So why not try writing a poem? Does it seem like an intimidating task. Do it anyway. Let’s not limit ourselves in our writing. 

Take fifteen minutes to write a poem. It can rhyme or not rhyme, follow a pattern or not.

Release your inner Frost, Dickenson, or Poe. When you’re done, share your poem in the comments below!

Here is my poem:

Comfortable in Misery

 By Cherrilynn Bisbano

“Don’t try to fix me…The pain goes deep.

Don’t try the healing salve…it’s scarred over.

Your whisper echoes in my head,

“Only the Father of Light can heal…His Word can go deep into your innermost being       

To search… search your thoughts, wounds, pains, attitudes…

My pain silences the voice.

Is this my identity forever?

Is Pain, abuse, torture, being invisible my identity forever?

The light is bright

The light is warm

“Hey, let go of that…that is my identity…how will others know me if you take it?”

The abuse, the pain…that is how people know me.

I fear letting go

Do I want to be healed?

Do I want to change my identity?

The journey will be too painful

So here I sit

 In the dark,

Don’t try to fix me…the pain goes deep.”

For more information on poetry, Crystal Bowman wrote a great blog post on poetry. https://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-value-of-poetry.html

Cherrilynn Bisbano is an award-winning writer, coach, editor, and speaker. As former managing editor of Almost an Author, she helped the website earn the #6 spot on the Top 100 best writing websites for 2018 by The Write Life and Top 101 Websites for writers with Writers Digest. Cherrilynn is a speaker with Women Speakers. Her topics include leadership, book proposals, and the Bible.

She is a two-time winner of Flash Fiction Weekly. Her work in progress, Accidental Findings, won the first 10 pages award with, When Words Count Retreat. You can find her published in Blue Ridge Writers Blog, Southern Writers, More to Life (MTL), Christian Rep, Christian Voice, Refresh, and other online magazines. Cherrilynn is a contributor to award-winning, Get to the Margins-Author Anthology; Breaking the Chains; Heart Reno, Kiss Guilt Goodbye; and Chicken Soup for the Soul-Miracles books. Her latest book, Shine Don’t Whine, released October 2020. Cherrilynn proudly served in the Navy and Air National Guard, earning the John Levitow Military leadership award.  She lives with her eighteen-year-old son, Michael, Jr., and husband of 22 years. Cherrilynn loves Christ, Chocolate, coffee, and Cats. You will often find her on the beach sea glass hunting.