For me, writing poetry has always been a kind of therapy.
When thoughts and feelings or even questions overwhelm me,
taking them from the abstract caverns of my mind and putting
them on paper make them concrete- something I can see, touch,
make sense of, or just throw away and move on. I liken the
process of writing to making order out of chaos.
These poems were written over the last five years and are in
no particular order themselves. Each one is a glimpse into
where I was on my journey at that time. Some are about love-
found, lost, found again, or finally gone. In these, there is
much hope that �this� is the one, and even more heartbreak that
it wasn�t. I share this hope and heartbreak with my best friend
and the sister given to me by God Himself, Jen, in "Best Friends
Forever." (I love you, Jen, and I cannot imagine my life without
you or who I would be today if we had never met.)
Most of these poems are about my faith in God and the struggles
that sometimes cause me to doubt or question. Yet the majority
of those struggles come from forgetting to remember what I believe
to be true. The greatest truth is that He has never abandoned me,
even though I�ve run from Him countless times in an effort to try
and fix all of my failures on my own. However futile my efforts,
or how often I return home beaten, bruised, and muddy, He�s always
been there to forgive, to heal, to comfort, to restore, and above
all else, to love .
My greatest prayer is that whoever reading these poems is somehow
touched, whether you see yourself, or you merely see me. And more
over, you are able to walk away knowing you are never alone, never
unlovable, and most important, never without hope.
PLEASE feel free to email me with your comments and/or questions.
And sign the guestbook so I�ll know you were here!!!
God bless and keep you.
Iris Laureate
to Starr- Thank you for making all this a reality I never even
dared to imagine. You are without a doubt, a gift from God and
I thank you for loving me, being my friend, and holding my hand
through this and so much more!!!
to Tracey- Thank you for knowing me so well, and loving me anyway!!!
I'm eternally grateful to you for your support, your honesty
(however painful!), your guidance, and the freedom to be me no matter
how much it hurts you to watch me fall. Most of all I'm grateful for
the honor of loving and being loved by you and your precious children,
Jaygen, Brady, and Payton.
�
2000 �Iris Laureate-all poetry copywrighted
1999 � Sites by Starr
Came to read poetry
