Manners

For centuries, society has portrayed a woman as stoic perfection, as though forged of plaster and paint, without flaw or blemish, in no way acknowledging that she could be in pain, doubtful, afraid, insecure, untamed, ferocious, livid, opinionated, desperate, unloved, annoyed, confused, self-conscious, and most importantly and unequivocally, human.

Manners is a poetic tribute to femininity in all its complexity. It is poetry about women and for women that refuse to look away from the unspoken truth beneath the performance. It is a psychological exploration of female identity in all her many shades, both good and bad, both light and dark, both bold and still, both jealous and humble, both sweet and fierce.

These are poems for women who know the weight of conformity and social expectations, the manners, the unrealistic constraints society still expects her to uphold, even when what's churning inside her renders her incapable of putting up such a front. Beneath the surface lives vulnerability, inner turmoil, and an untamed, feminine spirit fighting quietly for room to breathe.

These pages reveal a woman battered and broken but ultimately breaking free, rising above the blistering confines of change and his many unrelenting faces, a study in resilience, defiance, and the emotional depth it takes to survive becoming who she is.

Manners contains six chapters of poems, spanning the varied and complex stages of a woman's life: from self-discovery to strength to weakness to aging to uncertainty to peace. The book closes with a run of romantic poetry about women. These are love poems for women that read like a love letter to womanhood, female empowerment, and self-love.

In the poetics of Manners, the reachable but unbreachable heart of a woman boasts on full display for the world to scrutinize, fear, envy, behold, and perhaps, understand.