Anger

Anger is the stage of grief I typically stay in and go back to repeatedly through the grieving process. Writing and painting have been transformative tools for me in harnessing and working through Anger. Below is the piece titled Anger from my Grieving in Color series and the poem written in 2018.

Anger👿
The red hot
Flame
That eviscerates
Reason
Skews perspective
Destroys
Love

But is born
From distorted passion
In false beliefs
In limited states
In what was
Not what is

Anger
Comes from
Our inability
To allow
Ourselves
The space to process
That which was
Out of our control
Traumatic
Heart wrenching
Things
We weren’t allowed
To grieve

Forced to shut down
Unable to process
Told lies
Like “crying doesn’t help”
Why are you crying?
There’s no crying!
Boys don’t cry.
Women are weak.
Don’t be so emotional

To be human
Is to feel
To be angry
To be sad
To be happy
To feel shame
To feel loss
To feel not enough
Are only some
Of the myriad of emotions
Every human feels
And if suppressed
That anger builds

Every interaction
Another opportunity
For reaction
Threats
Insults
Blame

Everyone else
But the real culprit
Yourself
Your anger starts
With you
Uncover the belief
The why
Behind that fire
That rage
That’s arguing with
Reality

And do something about it
Discover the solve
Write it down
Channel that anger
Into explosive energy

For good
To make yourself
Do something
To help
Instead of shrink
And give up

Decide
Make your life better
Make the world better
One belief at a time

All emotions
Can be good
If allowed to be
Felt through
And dealt with
With love
Understanding
Perspective
And no judgement

Cause we all
Feel it too
Some just can’t admit
Because they believe
The worst lie
That to feel
To be human
To be vulnerable
And experience
All that life is
Is weak

Strength
And vulnerability
Are two sides
Of the same coin
So be however you feel
But do something about it
Don’t hide it
Or numb it
Or avoid it
Let it in
To let it go