Damaged Poem by Erika Wingo

So uncertain
so unsure
among strangers with
familiar faces
vulnerable and insecure
never feeling good enough
never able to measure up
childhood leaves such permanent
scars
scrawled in red across the canvas
of our lives
defining and changing who we are
until who we were meant to be
slowly dies

Damaged people
damaging people
the cycles continue
the patterns repeat
we recreate the things we don't want
become what we try so hard
not to be
make promises to ourselves that the past
will not define us
but the future was tainted
once they planted their seeds
into the ground of untouched
new earth
until nothing grows there but weeds


Damaged people
only damage people
everyone wanting to cut deeper
to cause wounds bigger than their own
damaged hearts and damaged brains
bleeding out
writhing in pain
stained by the residue
of the past
that clings to your heart
and flows through your veins
things you thought you had forgiven
wounds so horrific
they will always remain