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At the Foot of the Mountain
At the Foot of the Mountain is a stirring collection of poems that wanders through memory, trauma, heritage, and healing. The book moves between landscapes in the natural world and landscapes within the self, tying the two together in ways that feel tender and raw. Erzinger writes about loss, cultural identity, motherhood, grief, and the slow, patient climb toward recovery. The imagery often returns to mountains, forests, animals, and weather, using the outdoors as both a mirror and a refuge.
I found myself pulled in by the writing’s honesty. The poems feel unguarded, almost conversational, yet they also hit with a kind of quiet force. I caught myself pausing after certain lines, taking a breath, thinking about how plainly the emotions sat on the page. The simplicity of the language made the feelings feel even sharper. Nothing here is dressed up. Nothing hides behind cleverness. I liked that. It made the pain feel real, and it made the small moments of hope feel like little glimmers you want to cup in your hands before they disappear. Some poems made me uneasy in that good way, the way art does when it nudges you to look straight at something you usually avoid.
I also loved the way the natural world acts almost like a character. Animals appear and vanish. Weather shifts. Mountains hold people up or swallow them whole. The poems made me think about how the outside world can reflect our insides without us even noticing. Sometimes I’d read a line and feel a jolt of recognition, like I’d stepped into one of my own memories. Other times I felt the poems drifting far from me, into experiences that aren’t mine. Instead of feeling shut out, though, I felt invited in. The mix of cultures, countries, and family histories gave the collection a restless energy, and that restlessness felt honest. The book breathes in two places at once, maybe more, and I found that tension both sad and beautiful.
I’d recommend this book to readers who enjoy poetry that feels lived in. It’s a good fit for anyone who has ever carried invisible hurts or tried to piece themselves back together after breaking apart. People who find comfort in nature writing will enjoy it too, since the landscape shows up in almost every poem. This is the kind of collection you read slowly, maybe outside, maybe with a cup of something warm, letting each poem settle before moving to the next.
Pages: 98 | ISBN: 198911945X
Bethesda
Bethesda is a collection of poems that moves through faith, pain, identity, womanhood, and longing with a voice that is raw and unguarded. The book feels like a spiritual and emotional journey, one that circles back to God again and again while navigating the heaviness of lived experience. Each poem stands on its own, but together they read like a layered confession. Grief, hope, Blackness, gender, memory, and divine yearning all braid together. The writing pulls from moments of despair and moments of revelation. The themes feel deeply personal yet still universal.
Reading this book stirred something in me. I kept feeling the author’s honesty press against me. Her words feel unfiltered in a way that made me stop more than once just to sit with the weight of what she had said. Sometimes the writing felt soft and vulnerable, then suddenly sharp, almost like a cry I wasn’t prepared for. There is a rhythm in these pages that made me sway between empathy and awe. The way she writes about faith hit me hardest. It felt like I was watching someone reach for God through fog. I felt the hunger in the lines about doubt. I felt the exhaustion in the moments she confessed her confusion.
I also found myself loving the poems that center on Black identity, womanhood, and generational ache. There’s courage in the writing and also a kind of weariness that comes from living too much too early. Sometimes the poems wander. Sometimes they dig straight down. But the variation gave the book its shape. I enjoyed how the language feels both poetic and conversational. There’s an unpolished beauty here. Some lines left me feeling protective of the speaker, and other lines felt like a rallying cry. I especially appreciated how the writer handles inner conflict. It isn’t neat. It isn’t solved. It just lives on the page.
I walked away feeling like this book is for anyone who has ever fought with themselves and still tried to choose hope. It’s for readers who want poetry that feels lived in and not curated. It’s for people who are navigating faith or identity or heartbreak and need a voice that says I’ve been there too. I would recommend Bethesda to those who enjoy emotional, spiritual, and introspective poetry that doesn’t shy away from the hard parts of life.
Pages: 109 | ASIN : B0F7HZJX6D
An Ever-Opening Poem
In A Wave Without a Shore, you explore both science and soul through the introspective poetry in this second installment of the Entangled Universes Trilogy. What was the biggest challenge you faced in putting together this poetry collection?
Honestly, my writing flows unlike anything I have ever experienced. Since August 2019, I have written 2500 poems, so the challenge is mapping ~200 of them to the eleven chapters in a way that helps elevate the poetry to a “shore our galaxy will only pass by” in our future.
How do you approach writing about deeply personal or emotional topics?
With ease. I am an INFJ personality type with introverted intuition and deep empathy. These topics are like an ocean that I never leave.
How has writing this poetry trilogy changed you as a writer, or what are you learning about yourself through writing it?
My writing has absolutely evolved since I began writing poetry at the start of the global pandemic. It’s almost like six years ago, I had just stepped into this realm, completely unaware of what I was experiencing. I never studied writing poetry; instead I only read poets (Whitman, Hesse, Rimbaud, Hemingway, Milton, Dickerson, Homer, Keats).
I’ve learned that the universe is an ever-opening poem in which our lives are immersed and entangled, almost like the words we use to express it.
Can you give us a glimpse inside the final installment of the Entangled Universes Trilogy? Where will it take readers?
We were born inside a star. Everything that makes up our experience within this universe came from our mother sun, Sol. Here’s an example of how my poetry will resonate in Tides of Light:
The Fragile Silence of Becoming Our Real
We trade light in a dance we were born to make
Your words find mine almost as if they know us
When we met eons past each poem was a song
I’ll know you again, sweet when we’ll sing them.
Flush with our demurs love asks how to be now
When we decide our fates even time plays along
Fragile silences frame thoughts as if we’re alone
When you’re lost remember that light we shared.
I’ve ventured on lonely highlands in search of us
Komorebi shadows taste like a kiss only you gift
Guardian angels perfect our course through time
When you’re ready to dance love, hold my eyes?
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Jazz on the Coast | Website | Amazon
Third Quarter Moon: Matters of the Heart
Third Quarter Moon: Matters of the Heart is a warm, raw, and intimate walk through memories, grief, healing, love, and self-rediscovery. Simone moves through vignettes of childhood, family bonds, romantic entanglements, heartbreak, and renewal. The book weaves poetry, reflection, and storytelling into a journey about shedding what hurts, holding on to what heals, and learning to see oneself with new eyes.
As I read, I felt myself sinking into her honesty. The writing hit me in a tender way, almost like sitting with a friend who tells the truth even when it stings. Her memories of growing up in PG County swing from funny to painful in a blink. It caught me off guard every time. The flow of her poems made me pause often. Some lines felt like they were tugging at old wounds I didn’t know I still carried. I loved how she talked about love without sugarcoating it. She let it be messy, beautiful, and heavy all at once. That kind of vulnerability pulled me in and kept me there.
What really stuck with me was the rhythm of her voice. It’s soft and fierce at the same time. She opens doors to her inner world and lets the reader wander around, touch things, break things, feel things. Some pieces felt calm and earthy. Others felt jagged and hot. I found myself nodding, laughing, then swallowing a lump in my throat. Her metaphors about gardening, shedding, and becoming gave me this strange mix of peace and restlessness. I admired how she trusted the reader enough to leave some pages quiet and unexplained. It made the experience feel real.
I walked away feeling like this book is perfect for readers who crave emotional truth and aren’t afraid to sit with their own reflections for a while. If someone loves poetry that feels personal and unfiltered, or stories that sound like they were pulled straight from a heart learning to beat again, this book will land beautifully for them. It’s a gentle companion for anyone growing, grieving, or grounding themselves again.
Pages: 62 | ASINL: B0FLB1PVKL
Winds of Sovereignty: The Mavulis Poems
The book traces the story of Mavulis through poetry that mixes history, memory, and national spirit. It moves from the island’s lonely cliffs to the battles of Crete and Corregidor, then follows cables beneath oceans and the lives of workers abroad, before returning to Mavulis as a symbol of hope. It reads like a long walk around the island while listening to the sea talk back. The poems give Mavulis a voice, a past, a duty, and a quiet kind of power.
I found myself pulled in by how steady the writing feels. The poems come across like someone speaking slowly by a fire while storms roll outside. The language is simple and direct, and it makes the ideas land harder than I expected. I kept feeling this mix of calm and weight. The emotion is understated, but it crept under my skin. I liked that the book doesn’t rush. It moves at the pace of tides, and that slow rhythm made everything feel bigger.
At the same time, the ideas hit with a kind of patriotic punch that surprised me. The poems talk about freedom and vigilance without sounding too stiff, and I appreciated that balance. There were moments when I felt a swell of pride, even though I wasn’t expecting it. The poems about overseas workers were the most touching for me. They brought a human softness that rounded out the book’s strong tone. And the pieces about underwater cables caught me off guard. They gave the island this global relevance that made the whole collection feel more urgent and modern. It made me think about how small places can carry huge responsibility.
By the time I finished, I felt like the book was both a tribute and a reminder. It honors a place that many people will never see, yet it makes that place feel oddly familiar. It offers quiet lessons about endurance, belonging, and the way land can hold memory even when people come and go. I would recommend this book to readers who love poetry that blends history with emotion, to anyone who likes stories about islands and borders, and to people who seek comfort in steady, grounded writing. It’s especially good for readers who want to feel something real without getting lost in heavy language.
Nothing and Blank Save the World and Other Tiny Works
Ada Chukwuocha’s Nothing and Blank Save the World and Other Tiny Works is a sprawling, emotional mosaic of poetry and short stories that blend cosmic wonder with the intimate rhythms of everyday life. Across its pages, the collection swings from metaphysical creation myths to the quiet heartbreak of letters left unanswered. The title story, an allegory about two beings who create the world out of light and darkness, sits at the book’s heart, surrounded by verses that explore loneliness, creativity, faith, and the fragile beauty of human experience. Every piece feels like a window into a vivid mind that refuses to separate science from spirit or imagination from truth.
I found myself smiling at the whimsy of “Begin with a Stack of Pancakes,” then sitting in silence after the ache of “I’m Trying to be Happy.” Chukwuocha’s writing has a rhythm that feels both spontaneous and deliberate, like a conversation you never want to end. She writes about the universe the way some people talk about family, familiar, loving, and tinged with awe. Her command of imagery is stunning. Stars, ink, oceans, and hearts all share the same stage, and somehow it works. There’s a purity in her storytelling that caught me off guard. I could feel her honesty. I could tell these weren’t just poems; they were parts of someone’s journey, stitched together with care.
What struck me most was her bravery. The short stories, especially “That Time I Went to Summer Camp” and “Letters to Veronica,” hit deeper than I expected. They touch the parts of life we’d rather avoid, loneliness, loss, regret, but never in a way that feels heavy-handed. She doesn’t write to impress; she writes to connect. I liked that. Her prose doesn’t hide behind fancy language or flowery metaphors. It’s raw, sincere, and often tender. Sometimes I found myself rereading lines just to feel their pulse again. The ideas she plays with, the limits of knowledge, and the beauty of the unknown were thought-provoking.
If you love writing that feels relatable, curious, and full of heart, this book is for you. It’s perfect for readers who like to think and feel at the same time. For dreamers who love both science and poetry. For anyone who’s ever looked at the night sky and wondered if someone, somewhere, is doing the same.
Pages: 236 | ASIN: B0FTF8HFWY
Words for a Wounded World: Scriptural Poems of Truth and Hope to Awaken, Convict, and Heal
Mark Richard’s Words for a Wounded World is a striking collection of scriptural poetry that bridges devotion and art. Structured in four parts, it journeys from the foundations of faith to the trials of endurance, calling readers toward reflection, repentance, and renewal. Each poem is rooted deeply in Scripture and followed by supporting verses, reflection questions, and prayer prompts, turning what might have been a simple poetry book into a comprehensive devotional experience.
The opening poem, “From Fig Leaves to White Robes,” immediately reveals Richard’s strength as both a poet and teacher. His retelling of humanity’s fall and redemption through Christ captures the tension between sin and grace with vivid simplicity. The combination of biblical narrative and lyrical rhythm sets the tone for the rest of the collection, earnest, reverent, and unashamedly focused on God’s mercy.
Throughout the book, Richard writes with pastoral sincerity. Many of the poems were originally written for individuals he ministered to, and that intimacy infuses each line with authenticity. His words are direct and urgent, reflecting his desire to reach those caught in spiritual struggle. At times, the tone feels intense, more prophetic than poetic, but it remains grounded in compassion rather than condemnation.
Several poems stand out for their emotional resonance. “Think Again, Let Christ Define” is particularly compelling in its treatment of identity and mental renewal, reminding readers that transformation begins in the mind: “Your thoughts, dear soul, are not benign—They shape your heart, your path, your mind.” Similarly, “Believe in Prayer” offers a tender reflection on faith’s persistence, inviting readers to approach God with both confidence and humility.
By the end, it becomes clear that Words for a Wounded World is not meant for hurried reading. Its structure, poem, Scripture, reflection, and journaling space encourage contemplation and engagement. It is ideal for those seeking a devotional guide that combines poetic beauty with spiritual depth.
This book will particularly resonate with readers who appreciate Scripture-centered writing and desire to deepen their personal walk with God. Thoughtful, sincere, and rooted in faith, Richard’s work reminds us that even in a wounded world, the Word still heals.
Pages: 135 | ISBN : 13: 978-1-63746-564-6
Write Fully and Freely
Purple Summer, Gray Fall is an eclectic blend of poems ranging from themes of warmth, youth, and desire to introspection, loss, and renewal. What inspired you to write this particular collection of poems?
Thank you! This book began as 1-2 poems and random thoughts I wrote during and after a particularly impactful romance. I didn’t plan for Purple Summer, Gray Fall to become a book, let alone a book that I would publish. Not long after this romance, I went through a huge emotional journey, including and most notably, the start of my writing career. I began writing and unpacking things, which led to more writing. Then, synchronistically, the title Purple Summer, Gray Fall came to me one day. That’s when I knew I had to create a book. This book allowed me to understand and process that time period, learn more about myself, and explore and expand creatively. I realized I had to publish this book because, as an artist, there is nothing more urgent than to share what moves you.
Were there any poets or other writers who influenced your work on this collection?
Absolutely. The late Nikki Giovanni is my favorite poet of all time. The late Toni Morrison is my favorite author, and I’m also a huge fan of poet Marie Howe. Collectively, they have inspired this book as their work is frank and sharp, full of imagery, emotion, connection, and courage. They are a source of strength and commitment for me to write fully and freely. I honestly can’t do justice to describe how influential these three women are to my work as a writer, but I’m glad I can pay homage to them here.
How do you approach writing about deeply personal or emotional topics?
It wasn’t easy initially, but it was much harder for me not to go deep with this book. Purple Summer, Gray Fall could have had a vastly different tone. I scrapped almost half of the original poems because they were ok and fit, but they didn’t feel authentic, and they didn’t make me proud. I made a choice and decided to write free of external pressure, and once I did, the rest of the book came together pretty quickly. It was very exciting. I knew the excitement and pride I felt from writing from a place of authenticity was and is the reason why I am a writer. I’m not aiming to be controversial or deeply personal, but I’m sticking to my decision to write for me and no one else, letting whatever needs to come out be free to do so.
Can we look forward to more work from you soon? What are you currently working on?
Absolutely. Poetry is my favorite genre, and I’m working on my 2nd book now, no title available! I’ll share that the collection will explore my past relationships. But I also plan to write fiction, plays, and screenplays as I have started drafting quite a few projects. Stay tuned for updates by following me on Instagram @writeaway_selena.
Author Links: GoodReads | Instagram | Amazon
LITERARY TITAN 