Continued from Episode 1 — In the Beginning, i was a girl

Who am I ?

What am I?

Damaged.

You do stupid shit when you don’t believe in yourself.

I wanted to feel loved, accepted, valued, beautiful.

I did things that made me feel disgusting.

I was so naive.

Maybe if I felt I was deserving

all the feelings that the hate for myself consumed

I would have never felt like there was a void that only others could fill.

I was used —

taken advantaged of —

chewed up and spit out.

Those demeaning words

stuck

like knives —

Kilimanjaro to my soul —

my spirit.

After a while —

all I was

— were those words.

I was not special.

I was easy prey.

broken

used

gullible

insecure…

pregnant.

someone that was NEVER supposed to HURT you

family

how could they do that?

Scared

scattered,

depressed.

I told someone

my mother

Fear

why

didn’t you tell me everything would be alright?

WHY

didn’t you tell me I was safe?

This was my fault?!

I let it happen?!

Abortion.

to be continued.

Credits

Original words by Herstun’s Own, Aamir Ali. Edlited by W.D. Herstun.

Artwork generously approved by the amazingly talented landscape artist, Julia S. Powell. When I reached out to Julia about working with Aamir she assured me that her spirituality was centered in total love.

The vibrancy of my hometown, along with the colorful characters that reside within it, impacts my landscapes by injecting hypercolor into scenes with nature.

Herstun is SUPER BLESSED to be able to display her AMAZING paintings here, click on any image for information on buying prints or canvases. We can’t wait to feature her work again!

I cannot pray for better opprotunities than to work with two artists of this caliber.

I hope that you enjoyed our very first epic poem.

#LetsGrow

curated by w.d. herstun