Gloria's Poems

Local author to release poem collection

Journal Review

As a teenager living in California,

Gloria Comingore started

writing as a way to communicate

with God.

Over the last couple of years,

Comingore has decided to take

her writing to the next level in

hopes of using her troubled

childhood to help others.

Comingore, with help from

Publish America, plans to have

her book "Tears Out of Pain

Brings Inspiration from Above,"

in stores this summer.

"It’s a series of inspirational

poems to help women get

through their pain," Comingore

said.

Comingore, 53, has spent

hours on her small front porch

in Waynetown, relaxing on the

swing and putting words to

paper.

She said writing has been

soothing for her, but now, more

than ever, she felt her writing

would make a difference.

While growing up in California

with her single mother, Comingore

used to write a prayer journal.

The idea was developed while

attending a group service with some friends.

"They had this great idea of writing your prayers

down," Comingore said. "You would write them down,

but never end them with "amen."

Comingore had a troubled childhood that haunted

her throughout her adult life.

She moved around every few months with her mother,

who was attempting to escape Comingore’s father.

"We never really understood exactly what was going

on," Comingore said. "However, we started to figure it

out when we would never actually unpack any of our

things."

The constant moving made times hard on her.

Comingore said she was inspired by her cleaning

lady, Barbara, to begin compiling her poetry.

According to Comingore, Barbara had fallen into

hard times and was struggling with many personal

issues.

Those issues eventually led Barbara to jail, and

moved Comingore to begin working at the Trinity Mission.

"I taught a class for a couple of years," Comingore

said. "It was a nine week course that focused on

Matthew and Acts."

While being a teacher to struggling women, Comingore

realized she had experienced many of the same

issues. Fortunately, she was able to escape her troubles

and move forward.

"God took the bad memories away," Comingore said.

"When he did that, I wasn’t angry anymore."

Spending the last couple of years compiling her poetry,

Comingore said it never caused her to relapse into

those angry feelings.

She said God had taken those feelings away and they

would never come back.

Her poetry focused on faith and nature.

"There is so much in nature that can help us," Comingore

said. "If we spend enough time looking around us,

we will see how simple life can be."

"I wanted to tell my story starting from what I can

remember of my youth," Comingore said. "A lot of it

has just left.

"Through my lifetime I was able to forgive, but I

have decided it is not as easy to forget. Then I decided

if I forget where I’ve come from then I won’t remember

what brought me to God in the first place.

"God took away the memories, but as I get stronger

he reveals something new."

Comingore said the first painful memory God

revealed to her involved her six siblings.

"As a teenager, two of my siblings were adopted out,"

Comingore said. "My mother had gone to the hospital

and we knew she was pregnant. When she came home

she told us the child was dead.

"I was 16-years-old before I had learned my cousin

was my sister. I discovered that when my aunt accidentally

told me because she thought I already knew.

"When I was a teenager I discovered my mother had

kidnapped us from our father and he spent the last 16

years searching for us.

"When I was 16 she told me and my brothers it was

time for us to get to know our father."

Comingore said her mother took her and her siblings

back to Indiana and left them on his doorstep.

"He was married and had three other children,"

Comingore said. "It was different because I didn’t know

my father and by that time he had already given up on

us.

"We were already developed as far as our personalities

and they didn’t clash too well."

Comingore said her oldest brother ended up hitchhiking

back to California to be with their mother, but she

quickly developed a strong relationship with one of

her step-sisters.

"We were just a year apart and we became very

close," Comingore said. "I didn’t have a good relationship

with him. It was like he fed us and that was it."

Comingore stayed with her father for the next four

years until finally moving on with her own life.

She has lived with her husband, Pat, in Waynetown

for the last 22 years.

Both are truck drivers who have been on and off the

road for the past 11 years.

Comingore said her travels inspired her to write her

pieces based on nature.

One of her favorite pieces, "A Mother and Her Cubs,"

was developed after witnessing a mother bear teach her

cubs how to catch fish.

"I stood there and watched her begin to work with the

first cub," Comingore said. "They started, but then she

realized the other cub was still messing around on the

bank.

"The mother bear went over to the cub, smacked on

his head, and brought him down to the river."

Comingore said it was that visual that stuck with

her.

She realized how important strong direction was and

that’s what was missing from these women at the Trinity

Mission.

"My first chapter deals with my younger pain,"

Comingore said. "Then it progresses to where I was

saved and how I moved through it.

"I don’t look too much to the past as far as negativity.

I’m a very positive person and I think my story

could help others move through their pain.

"For some reason God did give me serenity. I’m at

peace with myself and have been for many years. I

don’t dwell on what happened and the things I do

remember.

"I don’t seek those out because my mother is gone.

It’s over, she can’t hurt me or my brothers anymore.

"If I could talk one other person out of their pain ...

tell them there is something more. It’s OK to be angry.

I was angry for a really long time, but my anger was

out of frustration because I spent my whole life, while

my parents were alive, trying to gain validation through

them and never got it.

"Once they were gone, it was easier for me because

that challenge was gone. It’s time to forget it and let it

go. Anger takes a lot of energy. If you can push through

that and realize how easy positive overtakes the negative,

you’ll find that your life is much easier and you