I've decided to write a poetry/essay collection book.

Why? Well...

For starters, poetry was my first love. I wrote poetry since I was a young girl, drifting away into a world of words that played well together in my composition book. In two specific incidents, I had to walk away from a relationship or home and could not retrieve my belongings. Lessons learned: never leave your cherished writing in anyone's hands, even if it's in a notebook, binder, or a hard drive.

Someone is enjoying my poetry, and hopefully not a bestselling author because of it. ;)

Back to my newly announced book, Vicariously Living through Storytelling: Poetry and Collections of Life, Love, and Wanderlust. I pursued this book to completion at the same time as my memoirs and a co-authoring of another book, Torchbearer. All will be out in 2024 and will truly be a busy year for me. It's balance weirdly for me, where I find joy in the deadlines and a challenge.

This book will walk through different eras in my life, including adulthood, because of how much positive feedback I have received on my storytelling. Many have mentioned the eclectic instances that happen to me, even today, and harp on my need to continue storytelling. My memoirs Borrowed Wings and Taking Flight are the originators of storytelling, but Taking Flight stops at the moment I enter the University. In the mayhem of adulthood and navigating the positive and negative, my readers need to see the other parts of me. And so, the poetry and essays come to life as my way of peeling the layer back more on Mary Love. Here is a poem I pulled from the draft, which speaks of the importance of confidence in adulthood. Warning... it's a little nerdy. Enjoy, and Namaste.

Confidence

in fine print

For the average Homo sapiens, slow down!

Mind the words that spit from the tongue.

Answer questions. Don't dig holes in confusion.

We speak fast, shaking the ground. 

Don't do it.

Treasure capabilities and competencies

The self-power, and openness to elevate. 

Grant favors and offer to hold space.

Humans naturally cross boundaries. Let them in.

Be intentional, slightly vigorous in voice.

Radiate your reality, brain, mindset.

Speak with leadership, holding grace.

Enter rooms as newly found but never accessed.

Hold empathy. 

You are the unknown door.

Be sure of the present.

Does it fire neurons?

Let this take the homo sapiens where it deserves.