A Process Note
Prompted by Kristina Marie Darling while participating in the 2025 Aegean Arts Circle Writing Workshop to “rewrite a scene or story from the point of view of someone or something that none of the characters knew was watching,” I was reminded of the weeping willow in the front yard of my childhood home. I chose the sonnet form to anchor the piece, drawing on the history of the Tyburn Tree, then fractured time and place through juxtaposition and erasure, incorporating real newspaper accounts of child abuse. The footnotes widen the view, reminding us that Adverse Childhood Experiences are not rare. Until we name corporal punishment for what it is—child abuse—and hold those who justify it to account, the cycle continues.
The_Ropes_and_WindCindy Rucker Trost is a writer, actor, and teaching artist based in Los Angeles. For over 25 years, she has worked professionally as an actor, producer, and teacher, and more recently, she has found a vibrant new path through poetry and cross-disciplinary writing. As the Creative Director of the Meisner Institute and a teaching artist for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts’ Creative Aging Program, Cindy combines decades of experience in performance with her deepening passion for hybrid poetry and multi-media poetic expression. Her work explores themes of generational trauma, caregiving, identity, and resilience, often infused with wit, tenderness, and vivid sensory detail. She is devoted to fostering authentic connection, healing, and accountability through the arts.