Dear Aiyana Henderson:

Good point: “None of this is my fault”- true. Your mother’s unhappiness, her relationships with your father before, with her new husband, that’s none of your doing, none of your responsibility. So it makes sense that the moment you don’t have to suffer from her unhappiness, her criticism, her complaints, her negative energy- that you won’t! It will be a good thing then when you are able to move out and make thoughtful choices in regard to who you allow into your life.

Your poem: “Maybe- Maybe you were always this way- Shrouded under- the secret nature- of your shadow self- Breathing underwater,- you couldn’t get help- The darkness inside of you was piling- as Cerebus breathed down your neck- Hades was attempting to take you- into his Underworld,- but his vibrant wife,- who is Queen,- let everything be green,- Inside, you knew,- that spring had finally begun.”

What a meaningful, fascinating poem. It leads me to think the following: Aiyana Henderson’s secret self was shrouded by darkness, pushed Under by Hades (the god of the Underworld) , but she rose from the underwold to the surface like a green plant growing toward the sun in Spring.

What a beautiful poem, it makes me feel this.. spring feeling of hope and growth; of invisible, hidden underworld things of winter rising up as visible, green Spring. Very relevant to this time of the year!

anita