Fading (book)

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Fading
Fadingfront.jpg
Author	Raven Oak
Cover artist	Raven Oak
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	poetry
Publisher	Shaded Tree Publications
Publication date	17 August 2001 (U.S.)
Media type	Print Paperback
Pages	167 p. (US paperback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-9712833-0-3 (US paperback edition)

Fading (2001, ISBN 0-9712833-0-3), is the therapy written poetry book by singer/pianist Raven Oak. Filled with seven years of poetry, this book explores the depth and pain in surviving both rape and abuse. The book is divided into four chapters or sections, with each section of poetry becoming darker in subject manner than the last. The back cover of the book demonstrates the "darkness" of this poetry book through the sketch of a ghost hanging by a noose.

While the book is dedicated to multiple people, the book is also dedicated to Tempest Smith, a 12 year-old girl from Lincoln Park, Michigan who committed suicide by hanging. The reason for her suicide was bullying by classmates.

Being a survivor of an attempted rape, author Raven Oak is a member of RAINN. This book donates to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network.

Written about a moment when author Raven Oak asked a friend for forgiveness, Eyes on Faces is one poem that stands out from this collection of poetry.

Eyes on Faces
I wondered if I was okay when I asked if you were
I pondered my sanity for asking such a question
why would you answer me in my humbled state
why would you turn over your years of hate
only because i asked it of you
Just when i thought i was out of the storm
I discovered I was in the eye when all i needed
was one word, one simple expression
but i got silence
and then i got regret
i screamed at a wall to see if it would answer
since nothing else hears me and knows i exist
i called out to a stranger to not cross the street
but to swim it when the rain started
why would you mind that sometimes I’m bitter though i know better
why would you care that i feel a lack of support by my own hand
only because i didn’t ask it of you i couldn’t
just when i thought i had not harbored resentment
i found i was a planet of bitterness and guilt
all that would stop the war in me was one simple care,
one moment of time
but I got ignored
and then I got angry
How can i let myself give in to my anger
when the disease eats in before out
how can i give in to such resentment
when the prospect of friends is impossible apparently
though occasionally i find the eye again in the peaceful moment of time
but why would you take the steps I took to say
“Yeah, i got it.” Or “I understand. Thanks for telling me.”
Why would you open yourself to the unknown,
that would make you so abnormal
and just when i thought you’d understand what I needed to say
I felt that I knew what you felt before all I said
was full of anger
and bitterness
so i got nothing
and i deserve nothing.