Introduction

Introduction As write this, surrounded by moving boxes on a rainy Monday night in LA, on the cusp of entering a new chapter in a new home, I can't help but think about how much my life has changed since I wrote my first poem. How I came to write a poetry book is fairly curious. One hot summer night, after taking psilocybin, my mind began to write intricate, strange stories drawn from memories old and recent. At first I thought they were songs, so I tried to box them into their usual structures, but they refused to obey. They seemed to want to expand and unfurl into their own shapes, so I put them aside and laid them to rest. A few weeks later, I realized that they were poems, not songs, and from that moment onward, my love for this new medium was born. I had found a new way to confess, process, and play with the past. Writing is a way to remember and also a way to for-get, to let go. Since I was 20 years old, I have used it as a way to alchemize pain. To explore wounds so that I can heal them, to understand them intimately so that I can let them go. My love for writing is intrinsically linked to its magical ability to ignite significant chapters of self-growth. It's an invisible thread that connects me back to my true self, an internal North Star that leads me back to a place where truth, power, and freedom reside. In this age of social media dominance, where we present our happiest, most successful selves online, we are left with increasingly fewer spaces to let the murkier versions of ourselves breathe. The scared, insecure parts; the self-doubting, lonely corners that we find too shameful or ugly to present around others. Writing poetry has helped me to uncover and integrate the parts of myself I'd tried hard to hide. The feelings of loneliness, shame, and alienation that had long fueled my music found a new place to breathe and exist in peace. I hope this book brings solace to those who need it. Sometimes, it can feel like no one in the world feels the same way that you do. But the truth is, many of us experience the same challenges, just at different times in life. Connection is never far away. Words are portals that lead us into new worlds of resonance, wisdom, and healing. I hope this book can be a friend to you as it has been for me. Marina January 2024