Those Who Trespass

Those Who Trespass is a collection of poetry that is centered around a period of my life during which my family and I had to come to terms with one member’s suicide attempt and subsequent depression and struggles with addiction and that begins to explore the effects that the events of that period has had on my understanding of myself. The poems tell my side of the story, address the conflicted feelings I had toward the members of my family, and show the way the things I experienced during that time have influenced the types of choices I make and the way I interact with others. In the preface to this collection, I discuss the ways in which I have been able to use poetry as a coping mechanism and as a emotional outlet, and I explore how the act of telling stories in this way has helped me to understand my own identity and the ways in which my worldview is informed by my past experiences. The collection gives voice to a topic that I have felt unable to address previously, and it reveals the way poetry can be used to come to terms with one’s own past and to begin to look at how that past shapes and informs future experiences