O C E A N

A poetry collection that uses spiritual ideas to explore the depths of depression, the transcendent quality of love, and other topics.

Composed of mostly untitled poems, this book begins in the darkest recesses of the human mind, detailing—at times graphically—a speaker “drowning in my silence” and weathering the pains of isolation, abandonment, and self-hatred. The first set of poems in “Deep Waters” makes explicit references to suicide and substance abuse as they detail the extent of the speaker’s struggles. However, these depictions make what follows more gratifying: In multiple sections related to the ocean, the collection traces a speaker’s progression from unbearable lows to a place of pure love and self-reverence. The evolution of the speaker’s identity in “Wading” coincides with the poetic introduction of a soul mate who makes it “easy to believe in magic.” Later sections deepen this portrait of all-encompassing love and allow it to settle into adoring domesticity. In a unique gesture, the collection occasionally shifts into stark prose, in which the speaker’s voice unambiguously addresses the reader as the poet. She asks them to take stock of their emotional state and treat themselves with care: “drink water,” she requests, leaving the reader to consider whether they wish to “continue reading or rest.” These intermissions create intimacy and warmth, inviting the audience to participate in and identify fully with the experiences. The unadorned nature of the poems makes them easy to comprehend; they read like incantations or meditative mantras, returning to the same sensations of growth and gratitude that allowed the speaker to bring her ideal reality into being: “What is the highest expression of who I am as a soul and as a human being?” the author asks her readers, encouraging them to look toward transformation.

A heartwarming and affirming set of works.