Ember in Three Parts

I wrote this poem as a part of an exercise in a group therapy session at the Indiana Center For Recovery. We were each given roughly 40 minutes to write a brief account of our life’s story, detailing our past, present, and future. Anecdotal or personal narrative writing had recently felt like a chore, as I had actually been putting together something of a memoir in the weeks leading up to my drive to ICFR.

I had just begun to experiment with poetry as a vessel for emotional expression, and I decided to use the time allotted for the writing exercise to formulate a metaphorical narrative of my struggle with depression, each part of the poem corresponding to the past, present, and future.

The narrative of the poem follows an ember that burns bright in its initial idealism, extinguished from adversity, and finally re-lit in newfound hope for the future. Even now, I aim to burn bright and fuel the flames of hope.