I used a word that isn’t in the dictionary — “ortisized” — on purpose.
Because sometimes, real experiences don’t have real words.
Language is built to describe the world in neat, defined ways.
But trauma isn’t neat.
It doesn’t follow rules.
It doesn’t sit inside clean definitions.
So why should my words?
“Ortisized” is not about correctness.
It’s about feeling.
It’s a word I created to describe something I couldn’t fully explain using language that already exists.
A way of capturing what it feels like to be shaped, stretched, and altered by experiences that don’t have a clear name.
And that’s where it connects to “trauma-sized.”
Because trauma changes scale.
It makes small things feel overwhelming,
And big things feel distant.
It stretches your reactions,
Shrinks your sense of safety,
And distorts the way you move through the world.
So “ortisized” became something else entirely.
Not just made-up —
But built.
A word that carries weight.
A word that holds what standard language couldn’t.
Sometimes, the English language isn’t enough.
And when it isn’t, I don’t limit myself to it.
I build something new.
Poetry allows that.
It allows you to bend language,
Break it,
Rebuild it —
Until it finally says what you’ve been trying to say all along.
“Ortisized” is that moment.
A word born from experience,
Not from a dictionary.
Because not everything real
Has already been defined.
Thank you for reading
đź–¤#DislexicPoet