My hope for my poetry, specifically By the Pond, is that moving forward after struggles and trauma is possible. I believe there are hurts that never completely heal. By getting up every day, putting one foot in-front of the other, and find those things that make us smile even in pain, we begin slowly to find our heart again. For me those things were my children, my elementary students, and my poetry. My poetry immersed me in the pain at…..