Peek into My Secret Closet

By Doreen Pratt

Peek into My Secret Closet is a book of poetry and essays that speaks to several stages of the author’s life: death of loved ones, her family and the strong women in it, sexual abuse, self-esteem, and domestic violence. The pieces in this book come together to tell a powerful story of survival, in spite of obstacles she confronted in life that could have destroyed her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665561235

Doreen Pratt

Doreen is a 62-year-old African American who is a mother of five grown children and grandmother to twelve grandchildren and one great-grandson. She is the former president of Sisters Existing Especially For You (SEEFY) Inc., a nonprofit organization created to empower women of color with various life issues. “If there were one word I could use to describe myself,” she says, “that word would be survivor. I am a survivor of a motherless childhood, sexual abuse, low self-esteem, and domestic violence.”

Book preview

PEEK

INTO MY

SECRET

CLOSET

Doreen Pratt

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2022 Doreen Pratt. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/29/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-6124-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-6123-5 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New

International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International

Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

This collection of poetry is in memory of my mother Beverly, my grandmothers Shirley and Mammie, my great- grandmother, Ora Huff, my aunt Clara, my bonus mom Deloris. 

As well as my great aunts (Audrey, Clarice, Bertha, Mildred, and Doris), my beautiful niece Keionna, and all the wonderful women that I have lost.

I dedicate this collection of poetry to my five amazing children Jalmor, Kanesha, Keshonna, Jamal, and Jermaine

There are so many women that I need to thank, but I am afraid that I might mistakenly forget someone, and I wouldn’t want to do that, so to all the women that have been with me on this journey I thank you dearly.

To my siblings Robin, Elaine, Sherrie, and Reggie, love you.

Shout out to my girls Gail, Lori, Marlene, and Jennifer. 

Dr. Debra Bond, best therapist ever!

Contents

Preface

Legacies

Legacies

The Question

Death Is …

A Tribute to My Mother

Dear God

My People

My Wish

Surviving the Unforgivable

Surviving the Unforgettable

The Big Dirty Yellow Bus

Matters of the Heart

Matters of the Heart

Perhaps …

Help Me!

Faces

She Is a Queen

Until Death

Till Death Do Us Part

Did You Know?

Just the Other Day

Why I Stay

Hello, Sistas

Domestic Violence

The Checkup

I Remember

My Final Thoughts

Women

I Am

Victory

Resources for a Helping Hand

Preface

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When I started writing poetry as a teenager, it wasn’t a revelation to me at the time that a day would come when others would consider me a poet. I didn’t know prose and sonnets, and I knew nothing about poetic forms and techniques. I just knew that creating poetry made me happy, and as a result, I learned to use it as a creative tool to help me deal with my life.

I