I’ve wanted to work on a reverse poem for a while. I finally sat down and made it happen. I have many themes in my head but this one is perfect for the poem structure. By reading down and back up, you journey with me “out of the fog” to face the “wound”.

“Coming out of the fog” is a phrase adoptees use when we begin to confront the reality of how adoption has impacted us. It’s a non-linear experience of grief and loss that can begin at any time in an adoptee’s life. Some adoptees never experience this.

The “wound” refers to the Primal Wound theory by Nancy Verrier, which states that even if a child is separated from the first mother the moment it is born, the infant will register that as trauma in their body, in their nervous system. Though an adoptee like myself may not have a conscious memory of that stress or my struggle to survive without my biological mom, the wound is there. Acknowledging that is part of healing.

Thanks for reading.

POEM TEXT

Title: Fog & Wound
By Tiffany Lavon

 Adoption is beautiful.
 I can’t honestly claim that
 I need to grieve
 I don't need sympathy
 Focusing on my blessings
 Is how I grow, not
 Lamenting a loss before memory
 Truth is
 I should always be grateful
 It is actually harmful to imply
 Adoption is inherently traumatic
 My adopted family
 Is a deeper part of me than
 My ancestral heritage
 Which will never be part of my life
 The bond with my first mother
 Does not eclipse
 My adopted mother's love
 I have no doubt that
 This was God's Plan A
 I can't imagine how
 My life could be different.

 [read in reverse, line by line]