As our life story is told, the narrative inevitably includes watershed moments. Certain events around which we mark time and through which we are changed irrevocably for better or for worse. At the risk of sounding overdramatic, I’ll say that I experienced one of those watersheds a few months ago when I came to the realization that I needed to leave my job after 11 years. For me, the moments generating the most impact came in the weeks just before I made that decision. It took me a while, but I was eventually able to wrestle this poem out of my confusion, anger, and discouragement. It is the first of several poems I’ve written in this unexpected moment of transition I and my family have entered of late.
Before it Happened
in Poetry