They say our traumas get encoded in our DNA,
and travel through the generations,
How much of our destiny
is granddad’s addiction, or
grandma’s depression?
Daddy’s tortured in the war,
the screams of his dreams
choke his children’s children,
how is this so?
We see reverberations
of nature, but seek solace in nurture.
Can education and positive choices
eradicate the history?
Wash clean old wounds?
Slowly nurture the nature of the DNA
to create a new playbook?
It may.
Shawn L. Bird 
I’ve had enough trauma from this lifetime that I don’t want to take on anymore trauma but I definitely have done so as an inter-generational indian residential school survivor. I do ceremony to honour my ancestors and give thanks but to also ask Creator to please disconnect from their trauma load. ❤
I always theorize that looking something in the eye removes a lot of its power. Just knowing that trauma load is part of the burden means you know to carry it so it doesn’t tangle around your feet. Ceremony is wonderful. Peace to you and to your ancestors.
You can not escape DNA..you can understand it and make yourself better perhaps..
This poem makes one think, and that is the beauty of this selection.
Profound.
Well expressed and thought provoking.
Quite likely, come to think about it. So maybe survival is thinking