LOVE, HEARTBREAKS, EPIPHANIES, AND JOY: A POETRY COLLECTION (INTRO ADDED)
Hello to my current & future readers. Here is the introduction that I've added to Love, Heartbreaks, Epiphanies, and Joy! This has been on my to do list for a long time after hearing a lot of "how dare she" rhetoric, so I'm happy to say that I finally added my introduction. Check it out and don't forget that this paperback and e-book are currently on sale.
INTRODUCTION:
Before you turn the page or before you click that button on your device to proceed to the next page, stop and read this.
Love, Heartbreaks, Epiphanies, and Joy: A Poetry Collection is my second (of eleven) published book, and it is my first (of two) poetry books. This book has four sections: love, heartbreaks, epiphanies, and joy. All eighty-three poems are divided and placed into one of those categories. I’m often asked if every poem in this book is about my life. The answer is no, but many of them are. A great number of these poems were inspired by individuals I’ve met along the way.
Love, Heartbreaks, Epiphanies, and Joy is perhaps my most controversial work of art, as it addresses topics that people don’t feel that comfortable discussing. This includes topics such as promiscuity, addiction, grief, and suicide. Although most of these poems were either written during my high school days and when I was in my early twenties, you will find plenty-like my poem about the Black Lives Matter movement, along with the majority from the Epiphanies and Joy sections were written between 2019-2020. I revised this book in 2020, omitted some of the poems and added many more. I also changed my book cover.
You will either love or hate this book, which I do not highly recommend for the judgmental, close-minded, or the self-righteous…as it depicts situations and feelings from a lost and broken person’s perspective. It starts off with love. You know that thing that everybody wants but not everybody has…usually because self-love has not even been mastered. After love comes the heartbreaks because that’s usually what stems from relationships that derive from one-night stands, soul ties, co-dependency, and divorce. But when those growing pains bring you an epiphany and wisdom, things start to look brighter. You learn to stop trying to fill voids with bodies and cheap thrills, and to give your life to Jesus. That’s when you find real joy! When we switch our focus from having to be boo’ed up to needing a close relationship with the Lord, He will heal you and meet all your needs. The word of God says in Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Yes, some of the language and themes in this book are not rated G. I thought about changing it, but you must understand that this book is a journey that begins with an individual whose mindset was far from rated G. I believe it is important in certain situations to meet people where they are in order to reach them more effectively.
This book is not for those who have come up from rock bottom and now look down on people who are now where they used to be. If that person is you, you may feel like closing this book now, but I encourage you to keep reading and just maybe you will remember where you came from. Maybe you will begin to understand the young lady you gossip about daily- that young lady who is like the girl in my poem called Bianca. Maybe you will be encouraged to help instead of ridicule the people in this lost generation-both male and female. After all, somebody helped you up, right?
If you can navigate through the pages, without getting caught up on some of the words and content, you will see the growth, maturity, beauty and will understand the journey.
This poetry book is for the lovers, the heartbroken, the low achievers, the oblivious, the black sheep, the betrayed, the ridiculed, the abused, the suicidal, lonely, the single and divorced parents, the sex-crazed, weed-smoking, pill-popping, alcoholics, and other drug addicts, the validation and the change seekers.
May I tell you something you may come to know by the time you get to the last page of this book? Just three words without telling you too much. There… is… hope.
Please believe me. Sometimes God breaks our heart to save our soul. Don’t give up. Your life matters. ALL lives matter.
Oops! That was more than three words. Turn the page and enjoy!