dear reader, welcome to my poetry book. it's a series of poems written throughout the past few years. a collection of my thoughts, in disarray. the first, written within 3 peeling white walls. the last, written watching the reflection of the moon in the midnight sea. some of these poems have proper titles, some do not - just placeholders in the contents page. feel free to name them yourself. most were written between the ages of 14-16 - a few before, a few after. as a result of this, there are wild inconsistencies in the quality and style of the writing. some sections are puerile and naive, an inevitability considering the time in my life that they were written. all are important. i swore that while i was still breathing, no person would ever lay eyes on them. i'd laid my heart bare on the pages of my tattered journal and i would never expose it to the world. it was too raw, too personal. yet here i am. inviting you into the most vulnerable moments of my life. it's a story of pain and suffering. but it is also a story of healing. it's a story of hope. my one request? read it. read it under your breath, beneath your sheets at night with a torch. while laying in the sun on a grassy field. go out into the middle of nowhere and scream it to the wind. see if you can find yourself within these pages. read my story. then, go forth and tell yours. while you're reading - you can read the entire book as one story, each poem an extension of another. consume it in one sitting, immerse yourself in it entirely, let the words wash over you. breathe them in, roll them around in your mouth and see how they feel. dance with them. indulge their every whim and let them take you wherever they may please. or you could read each as its own independent story. invent rich backstories for each one. take it and let your imagination run wild - build worlds, create characters, allow my humble pen to inspire yours. weave bridges and rich tapestries with strings of your own words. you might even skim through it - drifting past the ones that don't draw you in, lingering on the ones that resonate. whisper them to yourself. listen to the words echo back to you in your own voice. perhaps softly. or maybe loud enough to make the ground quiver beneath you. who knows? you might just see yourself reflected in some of these pages. there are a million different ways to read this book - and i can't wait to see which one you choose.