Elise Skidmore

They say hindsight is 20/20 and most people would tell you they couldn’t be happier that 2020 is behind us. Everyone tried their best to keep going and get things done through quarantines and shut downs. Some handled it better than others, but even for an optimist it was hard going.

We all have our coping mechanisms. Poets write. The poems you’ll find in this book are the results, and while there are some solemn poems that deal with what I was thinking and feeling on down days, I think the majority of the work is just me trying trying to escape from the grim reality of the time as best I could. The truth is I was looking for the light in what seemed a very dark world.

It is my hope that as you read the poems in this book you will know that even in your isolation, you weren’t alone. There was someone thinking and feeling the same things as you were. Someone who laughed, who cried, who remembered, who cared.

 April 30

I Am
 
 I am the daughter of a mother whose American roots were planted with the Mayflower
 and an immigrant father, who wanted to live where all men were free;
 I am the daughter of honesty and dreams and love brought to fruition.
 I am the richness of words stretching across blank pages from childhood's imagination,
 and the dreams of stories passed from generation to generation.
 I am a poet reaching out to embrace the world.
 With arms stretched wide I will gather it in without fear,
 for I was born to weather the storms.
 I am words tossed in the whirlwind, flying free,
 until they fall on fertile ground and take root in the heart of love. 

Available in:

Ebook:

Paperback:

Hardcover:

Request from your favorite bookseller or librarian:

• 978-1-63107-031-0 (epub)
• 978-1-63107-032-7 (paperback)
• 978-1-63107-035-8 (hardcover)

Sample poems read by the author: