The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One - Amanda Lovelace (excerpt + review)

 

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Author: Amanda Lovelace

Book: The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One

Series: Women are some Kind of Magic #2

Excerpt:

You

think

your body

is made up

of mostly

water,

but

really

your body

is made up

of mostly

poetry.

Wherever you go,

you leave behind

puddles of

words

in your

wake.

Collect the

integral pieces

of yourself

&

call the

words back.

you deserve

to be whole again.

-        Amanda Lovelace, The Sign You’ve Been Waiting For II.

__________________________________________________________________

 Amanda Lovelace is a young contemporary poetry writer. This collection contains poems which encourage women to take control over their own stories, especially after experiencing some very dark moments and traumas. The poems deal with strong themes, such as abuse, eating disorders, rape, but by the end of the collection, her poems become more hopeful, such as in this case (this poem is found at the end of the book). In this collection, she speaks her passionate truth, without filters, and now with this poem she encourages other women to do the same. In this poem, she makes an interesting connection between water/puddles of words, as a way of saying that poetry, like water, is essential to live, and most importantly, to survive. 

Thanks to poetry, she transformed something that could have destroyed her into something powerful that is able to inspire other people… and that is the power of poetry: by writing, you are able to collect the broken pieces of yourself and start all over again with your life. By writing, the event loses its power to cause pain or anger, and gives a sense of closure. She is saying that writing is essentially therapeutic, a sort of natural medicine. She advises every woman to do the same, to start writing and not remain silent. She is saying “don’t be afraid and start writing”. You might think that nobody will care of your story, but your words and experiences could actually be helpful to someone. 

Poetry, or whatever form of writing (journal, letters, stories, songs), might be a way to salvation.