If you’re wondering which poetry book you should read in 2024, Start with “Where She Grows” Still Growing Wildflowers: a Healing Poetry Series.

I started writing poetry back in 2018 to process life (like we all do) and in January 2020 I published my first healing poetry book, Still Growing Wildflowers. I wasn’t planning on publishing more than one, but then the plague hit, I separated from my then-husband, got an apartment, filed for divorce, kept writing, and throughout the next three and a half years I published three more poetry books.

You might’ve found my poetry through TikTok or Instagram and you might be wondering where you should start…and the simple answer is: start from the beginning!

These three poetry books all tie in together–so reading them in order will give you more context and deeper meaning to the poems.

Which Poetry Book You Should Read?

Still Growing Wildflowers

My entire life started to fall apart long before the pandemic; I was in an unhealthy marriage, severely depressed, and barely hanging on when I tried to get divorced the first time. Writing poetry was one of the few things that kept me semi-grounded when I felt like I was losing my mind. Fast forward to 2020 and with the encouragement of my Instagram friends and followers, I decided to put the poems I’d been sharing online into a book. It was more of a passion project than anything, but three years later over 2,000 people have read Still Growing Wildflowers. After my divorce, I changed the original cover as part of a rebirth.

Themes: childhood trauma, sexual assault, emotional abuse, loneliness, depression, death, and grief. Don’t worry though: while people have described my poetry as “kind of dark”, each book ends on a note of hope.

Still Growing Wildflowers was my first healing poetry book written for women like you; women who have experienced the brutal reality of healing from childhood trauma, abuse, assault, the death and loss of loved ones, and more.

It was written for the woman who gave everything she could and lost more than she could have imagined. Still Growing Wildflowers is a raw, real, empowering poetry collection for every woman who has ever questioned her worth, wondered if she is enough, or struggled to heal from past wounds. This poetry collection leaves you feeling heard, seen, and inspired to keep growing through life.

If you’re new to my poetry, this is the book you should start with!

The Lovers

I wrote The Lovers during my separation and divorce. It was a journey of learning to love myself again; physically, mentally, and emotionally. I spent a lot of Friday nights alone in my apartment, cooking dinner for one and watching a movie or writing a song and playing my guitar. I went back to school full-time, took a hand-building pottery class instead of going to therapy, lol, and started developing closer friendships.

Themes: self-love (and lack of), “sultry, seductive love poems”, empowerment.

The Lovers poetry book became what one of my friends described as, “a spell-binding concoction of love poems that brings you through the beautiful, yet sometimes heartbreaking and haunting transition of relying on love and peace from your past lovers to learning to find that love and peace and beauty in yourself.”

If you’re going through a breakup, divorce, or simply want to reconnect to yourself and self-love through poetry, then The Lovers is for you. (But first read Still Growing Wildflowers!)

Made of Earth

Made of Earth is the third and final book in the Still Growing Wildflowers series. It’s a brutal and beautiful collection of poetry that explores breaking toxic cycles from the mother wound, father wound, and how we can find self-love and make peace with our past through our connection to the earth.

Divided into three parts, this poetry collection shares a journey of self-love and healing from a traumatic past, all rooted in our connection to the Earth.

• the womb is where it begins; from the roots. This section highlights how our childhood relationships and experiences with our parents shape our future relationships.
• unearth / rebirth highlights toxic relationship patterns and uprooting the old belief systems and cycles that we learned from the womb. It is also a revival of the womb; a celebration of learning to accept love and give healthy love not just to others, but to ourselves.
• the remedy is the hope and healing that comes from our connection to the earth and being true to our authentic selves.

It was written for the ones who refuse to be tamed: the black sheep queens and cycle-breakers. For the ones who keep loving despite having every reason not to.

So if you’re wondering which poetry book you should start with, then I recommend starting with Still Growing Wildflowers and working your way through the series!