Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction

Let me start with this: “A Letter to Sarah Contemplating Superpowers” just flat out made me bawl. Being a spoken word poet myself, I went looking for the video on YouTube, which is a far more visceral experience than just reading the words.

I wish we didn't live in a time where we get taken by surprise when someone we know, a friend, a loved one, turns up dead by their own choice. But we live in a time where a lot of us do to various degrees. What can we say to that, other than:

“If I could travel through time, I would go back
to the moment before it was too late.
Right before you wrote a suicide note that started

Dear Jared:
I???m doing this now because I know you will be the one to
find me. Of all of my friends, I think you???re the one who???s
strong enough to take it.

What made you think I was strong enough to take this?”

There was a lot of poems about this topic. I'm not sure if they were about the same person or if Singer had to experience more than one. But if that sampler wasn't enough to clue you in, ‘Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction' is in part, raw with pain and in other parts, breathtaking in how an image was woven out of words.

The other piece that stood out for me was ‘Artifacts', excerpt:

“Why do you think rich men buy the
instruments of famous musicians

and put them behind glass instead of playing them?
To protect a valuable object? Do you see their
families in cases? Their egos? Their legacies?”

I can't relate to his poems about being Jewish, but I can appreciate how poetry allows us to talk about things we each experience differently.

This eArc was courtesy of NetGalley and Button Poetry.