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Sanya's avatar

People love me in theory.

Hate me in practice.

Say I’m brilliant, luminous until I explode.

So beautiful!!!❤️❤️❤️

I am sick, my eyes hurt but still I was compelled to read it full.

I hope you find the peace you deserve amidst the trauma and chaos. Life is messy. And the way you pour it all down, is phenomenal.

Much love!

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Thank you Sanya. I appreciate your wishes

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Renee Amaya's avatar

I feel this deeply my friend. I see you, I hear you, you’re not alone in the pain. Since you wrote it so eloquently, let me do the opposite. Complex trauma is a real fucking bitch, it’s painful and messy and confusing and moments of peace can feel like the most threatening of them all. Your writing is powerful 💛

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

thank you. I appreciate you reading my poem Renee.

This might be the poem I overthought the least. I just allowed it come out

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Hema's avatar

Brooooo who gave you the right to write something this powerful?? 😭🔥 This hit like a gut punch wrapped in glitter. “I don’t flicker. I flare.” I felt that in my soul.

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Trauma, my dear friend, Hema

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Hema's avatar

A gentle face hiding some serious battles

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Stephanie M. Vargo's avatar

Your level of honesty is amazing. Incendiary. The power of your words is blinding.

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Well, now I feel like I should have included the words blinding and incendiary on the piece. Thank you Steph🙏

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Stephanie M. Vargo's avatar

This poem was magnificent. I had a hard time describing my feelings about it without using poetry. It demanded strong words.

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

I like the words you used. Thanks again

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Ruth Raphael's avatar

Oof! This hit deep… I can feel your fire within. May you feel the warmth and safety of mine. Shine on Cas.

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Poems from the Threshold's avatar

I am ashamed to admit I have been this person in the past.

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

thanks for reading

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Axel and Astra's avatar

Ooh that one aches eh👏👏

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

thank you so much for reading it! but yeah it did when I wrote it

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Molly Senecal's avatar

"I am the match" - yes! Powerful words!

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Thank you Molly!

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Thomas Cargen's avatar

Oh god, thank you! I don't feel so alone after reading this.

Astonishingly intense and beautiful. Really connected deeply.

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

I am glad it made you feel less lonely, Thomas

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Susan Hickman's avatar

Wow, your deep trauma, and profound awareness of it explains why you’re such a good writer!

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Thanks Susan🙏

I guess I feel too deeply as well

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Susan Hickman's avatar

You sound like you do. I have a sister like that. And what I say is, Embrace it! Embrace who you are, all the depths of you!

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Thank you Susan! Im working on it

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M.W. Sturdivant's avatar

I have a poem that is almost a sacred sister to the one here that you wrote. I deeply resonate with what you have said. I’ll share mine here with you, I dredged it up from my notion board:

Invocation of the Graceful Flame

I carry fire, but I offer light. My flame no longer burns to consume or protect; instead, it guides and warms. I am the quiet blaze in the hearth of my home, the glow in my children’s eyes, and the ember of softness on my lover’s skin. I do not scorch or shrink; I illuminate, hold, and become. Every time I choose tenderness, I rewrite the legacy. Every breath I take in safety passes on as peace. Every moment I mother myself is one less wound passed forward. I survived, but now I live, love, and light the way.

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Thanks for sharing Madeline. That is a very beautiful poem. Very different tone but similar imagery

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The Threadwalker's avatar

Damn, son! That was literal fire.

Resonated too.

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Well, in this case, I am sorry you were able to resonate. Hopefully not with all of it

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K. Asteria's avatar

This piece is brilliantly eloquent, visceral and raw, Cassian. The line "I was built like a chemical—

bond easily, break violently." particularly struck a chord with me.

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Took a page from your book Katherine—with the rawness and eloquence I mean.

There was no refining/editing this piece like I usually do. Just raw emotions that I put on paper

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williamphaynes/elliott's avatar

Powerful writing

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Thanks William🙏

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Gabriela B.'s avatar

Brilliant Cass! So intense and so full of feeling. I’m always in awe of how you can pack so much into words!

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Thank you Gabriela! Maybe because that’s how I feel all the time? I appreciate your thoughts

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Sae Abiola's avatar

This left a weight in my chest and a mirror in my hands.

Every line carried the ache of trying to make peace with pain that never asked permission to stay.

Especially this:

“They’ve never watched a memory jump out of nowhere and drag them back like a chokehold.”

That alone felt like you wrote from inside my body.

Thank you for naming what so many of us carry in silence. For showing that survival isn’t always pretty, but it’s still sacred.

And even when the light burns, it’s still real. Still worthy. Still yours.

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Cassian Delmare's avatar

Thanks Sae!

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