Metamorphosis: A Poetry Manual for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse is designed to lead the reader to self-awareness and self-expression. The chapters are arranged chronologically, guiding the reader through early childhood, adolescence, courtship and marriage, body issues, and into recovery. Each chapter begins with remarks that provide personal context and ends with writing prompts that lead the reader to think about her own situation, to react emotionally, and to write poems in expressing her own story and emotions. As the reader becomes a writer, she will find the voice she needs to experience healing. Written over the three-year course of psychotherapy, Metamorphosis is a book of transformation. The frightened, distrustful child becomes a confident adult, capable of active participation in life and relationships. She can look at her history and claim it as her truth and cast aside the pretense and lies that she had formerly been forced to live. She can separate herself from her abuser and hold him accountable for his actions, freeing herself from the blame that had wrongfully been placed upon her. She can find the happiness and satisfaction she deserves. This book can be a valuable tool to use in conjunction with or following professional therapy. It can be used not only by survivors of childhood sexual abuse, but also by their partners in life, their friends and family, educators, law enforcement personnel, religious counselors, and even by abusers or potential abusers. Anyone who wishes to understand the effects of childhood sexual abuse can gain much insight by considering the pages of Metamorphosis: A Poetry Manual for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse.
