While her poems are never specific about what she went through and recovered from, they do offer an eloquent and highly personal guide to self-acceptance and self-love, a kind of pep talk for those hurting and feeling alone. Consider: “I am uncovering the dust sheets / thrown over the chambers of my heart / I don’t have to wait until the dawn anymore, / I am not afraid anymore / I am ready to collapse into the light / The power of the unknown within is waking up / like an embryo, a second breath / and I breathe in, with a yearning for / this life to be fully lived”
Additionally, certain short poems have an aphoristic feel, in which familiar sayings are given new weight with a change in the lyric: “Is your glass half full / or does every sip of it taste like / the very last?”
If it feels like the diction in individual pieces never quite leaves the mundane realm, the overall collection nevertheless achieves a gravitas with its sacred intent to reach out and try to make life easier for someone, anyone, in need. The extension of the poet’s hand and heart to other sufferers comes with an admonition contained in a mantra: “I let go / of the pressure / to have everything / under control / for the sake / of my soul’s / freedom” This short statement concludes with the catchphrase (or maybe it’s the title?), “ - repeat after me.”
This year, I have read more than one poetry collection by an (apparently) young practitioner, but this one is different, better. Kopernik has turned her experiences into a positive, in that she wants to help others because she knows what it is to suffer. Such altruism should be honored. Heal distinguishes its author; it displays the goodness of this artist’s soul. Let it be a help to yours.
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