I am a poet. My children to my pride have shown themselves capable of great pieces. Now I should mention that I have not always felt good about my poetry. I have so often been told how depressing it was that I took it to heart. However,  I wrote because it was how I healed. As an abuse survivor,  I learned that I needed an outlet for the poison that was forced into my soul. Or I would not ever be whole. So I wrote to heal.  I wrote for the love of poetry. So I would never be as good as Emily Dickinson or Edgar Allen Poe. I wrote because it was part of me. I did not force anyone to read what I had written. So if it was depressing…. that was fine.  I could accept that. Then I was talking to a social worker.  I mentioned that my poetry was considered depressing. Though I think she was being sarcastic,  she said something that got me thinking.  She asked “Isn’t all poetry?” There are various types of poetry that express different emotions. Discounting sad poetry is basically like saying that feeling sad is unacceptable.  Poetry should be able to have a nice range of emotions.  It is after all an expression of the poets heart in word form. Then someone else I care about said that his beautiful poetry was so sad. My response “Poetry is often sad. I’m told mine are depressing. Just because they are sad doesn’t have to deny their beauty.” Not every poet can write greeting card poetry or love poems. And abusing the poets whose writing causes other emotions is not acceptable either.