By Alfa Holden
Published by St. Martin’s Press
2020
192 pages
$15.99 Paperback
ISBN-13 : 978-1250270429
Book reviewed by Kavita Khajuria.
“You can’t touch a woman who can wear pain like the grandest of diamonds around her neck”
‘She Wears Pain Like Diamonds’ poetically communicates the experience of the adult woman with a painful past. With riveting reflections and sage advice, themes include suffering, worth, self respect and love. Tones resonate with determination, compassion and empathy.
The reader is asked: “can she let you in?”
Emotional pain is explored with intuitive sensitivity, including its transmutation. The dilemmas of yearning and choices are noted, including the impact of depression burdened by the past and the difficulty of letting go – yet the need for release and the necessity of boundaries. Poems convey understanding and relentless perseverance, despite “the inferno that rages inside”. The potential for legacy is also addressed – with validation of the past and encouragement of worth, and an elevating embrace of the future. This chapbook speaks with sensitivity, bold poise and ownership, and is a powerful validation of the female spirit.
Serotonin 