Full Title: A Collection of Poetry About Being a New Parent Having Been Raised in An Abusive Childhood Situation: What I Don’t Want for You, I Worry, Dear Mom
 
In this collection we see a soon to be parent that is terrified. They are worried that they will not be able to shake the abusive situation that they grew up in in order to be the parent that they know they want to be for their child. It is in situations like these that we realize just how connected we are to our nature versus nurture experience. It is said that sometimes the abused become the abuser but how can this cycle stop? In What I Don’t Want for You we hear the different things that a child who was raised with a lack of love once to get to their child so that they know how special they are. In I Worry we hear of the fears that this future parent has for their child. One of their biggest fears is that they will become exactly what their parent was for them. While unintentional they worry that they will not be able to avoid their past in order to be a great parent in the future. In Dear Mom we hear a poetic open letter from soon to be parent to their mother expressing to them all of the things that they could potentially fix if they just made the choice to change. This letter shares the honest feelings of someone who never wanted the childhood that they had but also found a way to accept that reality and move forward through therapy. In the end the child becomes the parent and encourages them to get the assistance that they need to potentially change into the person that they could be, while at the same time expressing that they will not be a part of their life if and when this change ever does happen. Being a new parent is difficult, but that difficulty is compounded when your childhood was not a positive experience. Everyone does not have the strength to change their life for the better, but this particular poet absolutely does. *Can be performed by any gender.