Some wounds leave more than memories. They leave residue. Rejection. Heartbreak. Abuse. Molestation. Self-doubt. What we survive can linger long after the moment has passed, shaping how we love, how we see ourselves, and what we believe we deserve. The Good Poet is a collection of poetry, quotes, and healing notes that gives language to those difficult places while making room for something beyond them. Across more than 200 pages, K.D. Gates writes honestly about love and loss, painful relationships, abuse, insecurity, survival, self-worth, and the complicated work of healing. Some pieces sit with the hurt. Others challenge the beliefs the hurt left behind. Together, they speak to the parts of us that have been wounded without allowing those wounds to have the final word. This isn't poetry that asks you to pretend everything is okay. It's poetry for the moments when it isn't. For the woman confronting what happened to her. For the person questioning whether rejection determines their worth. For anyone learning that surviving something and healing from it are not always the same thing. The Good Poet doesn't promise that words can erase the past. It offers something more honest: words that can help you face it, feel it, question what it taught you, and begin deciding what no longer gets to follow you forward.