Poetry on video: “face my ghosts”

Today’s poem on video, “face my ghosts”, is from my upcoming book Scapegoat’s Cross: Poems about Finding and Reclaiming the Lost Man Within. I wrote this poem in response to a question (not so much a question as a demand in many cases) that I suspect many adult survivors of childhood abuse have heard at various points along their healing journeys: “Why can’t you just get over it?”

For more poetry on video, visit my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/rickbeldenpoet.

The Poetry on video: “face my ghosts” by Rick Belden, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

February 28th, 2011 in video | tags: adult survivor, child abuse, healing, men's poetry, recovery, wounded man

2 Comments Add your own

1. dbrannem&hellip | March 27th, 2011 at 9:19 pm

Rick,

Wow – your poem is great and right on point, thanks for sharing it.

I think (know) that many people walk around with ghosts that they don’t even know they have. I am amazed that my mother made it out of the situation she was in as in tact as she did – alcoholic, abusive (physically and mentally) parents. I suspect she suffered from some other things that she has never shared. But in her need for survival and control, she passed on ghosts to her children because she didn’t know them or wasn’t willing to face them.

Having supportive people around you that recognize your ghosts and help you to face them in a positive way is so important to breaking the cycles.

I like looking at it this way – “facing my ghosts” – it makes the argument for looking back and understanding the past more palatable and purposeful.
2. Rick&hellip | March 28th, 2011 at 1:20 pm

David,
Thanks for watching the video and sharing your response. I’m reminded, in reading your comments, of the following quote from Carl Jung:

“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.”

I think that “unlived life” includes not only all the parent’s unfulfilled hopes and dreams, but all the ghosts that he or she never faced.

Rick

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