A Transformation of Identity

by Michaela J. Cook

Aching for freedom

With my mind and body

Held captive by another

My hopes will no longer be

Acknowledged

My identity grows to be

A weary fractured soul

Searching no longer as a

Girl with hopes and dreams

I have become a

Faceless entity

That

Will be remembered only by

Those who exploited me

(Now read from bottom to top.)

The theme of this poem is a girl who has been victimized by sex traffickers and the struggle of her identity that transforms into an identity that is healing with newfound hopes.

Michaela J. Cook is an MSW student at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee who has an interest in working with at-risk youth and victims of human trafficking by fusing creative expression with evidence-based therapeutic intervention.