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She found that through the power of words.

"A lot of my poems have a negative start and positive ending," said the 53-year-old Roscommon resident, adding she has had seven poems published by "The International Library of Poetry."

Laycock-Morris recently had her poetry book entitled "Inner Feelings" published by Author House of Bloomington, Ind. The book deals with her feelings from being a victim of incest and rape years ago that she wrote in the 1970s and 1980s.

Some of her poems and their lines include one about former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein called "Let's Try Peace," and ends with the line "Nobody wins when they're holding a gun."

Another stanza from the poem "Believe In Yourself" is the following: "You just keep on hoping until that day/when the one you are waiting for comes your way,/believe in yourself they will come in time/to make your life and world so sublime."

"I started writing poetry at the end of the 1970s when I was raising my three kids on my own," she said.

Her children include daughter, Tami, and two sons, Allen and Matthew.

Laycock-Morris said she blocked out the pain she endured for years.

"I blocked out everything that happened to me when I was younger," she said. "I kept (relationships) at a distance because I was afraid of getting hurt. I felt fear and anxiety, and when I put this book together, I realized my poems were therapy and it helped me cope. I'd write a poem and the anxiety would let up."

Currently, Laycock-Morris and her husband, Steve, are raising their two grandchildren, Nathanial and Linna. "It gets tiring raising them, but I know they're getting taken care of," she said.

"Marriage, poetry, and church helped me to cope," she said, adding being at church makes her feel comfortable.

For those going through hard times, Laycock-Morris recommended that people should write down their feelings because of its therapeutic value.

"In my later life, things have gotten a lot better," she said. "I'm convinced if people read my book it will help them. I talk about being at the bottom of the barrel. I have a poem for my mom, who passed away. I was raised by my grandparents and couldn't have had better parents. My poem for them is 'Please Forgive me.' Whatever I was feeling is what I wrote about."

Laycock-Morris' book of poetry is available at www.authorhouse.com, www.Amazon.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com.

Jennifer Decker can be reached at (810) 664-0811, Ext. 8125 or jennifer.decker@lapeergroup.com