Healing through Art: Poetry Entry

We Are Not  by Carin E. Willis

We are strong and beautiful and brave
 
even on the days when it hurts to sit or walk or simply 'be',
 
when we try to speak of our pain our voices may shake or waiver and
 
become quieter
 
and definitely more sad.
 
We are moms and dads and teachers and business professionals
 
and people who fight for justice, put out fires and save lives
 
all while living with daily almost unspeakable pelvic pain.
 

 
We are not faking our pain,
 
or seeking attention
 
 or seeking drugs in order to abuse them.
 
We are not seeking anything from the world other than
 
validation,
 
understanding and, perhaps, a hug.
 

We are not wanting to be humilated
 
because our pain is located in our pelvic region
 
and when we say sexual pain or genital pain
 
we want you to look us in our eyes and SYMPATHIZE.
 

We are living breathing, sexual human beings with all of the same rights,
 
feelings
 
and experiences of  people experiencing other chronic pain conditions
 
wanting to be understood and believed.
 

 We are not here to live in the background
 
filled with shame
 
enduring the pain
 
alone.
 
We are here to give voice to the stabbing, raw, fiery and unrelenting pain
 
of pelvic pain conditions.
 
We will make our voices speak louder than the silences,
 
the mockery,
 
the misunderstandings
 
and the fear. 
 

 
We are not going to retreat about our pelvic pain conditions.
 
We are not.