Conversations With Myself: A collection of poems about survival and hope by T.L. MacRae

A powerful collection once again about life during and the aftermath of an abusive relationship that led to marriage and kids and the fact T L faced victim shaming and going to court to no avail is absolutely shocking but not surprising in other ways unfortunately as often happens we hear about. Some stand out poems that I found really relatable to me were: 7. Don't Touch Me, about feeling safer having no one touch you, friends or family after suffering abuse at the hands of people before making you weary. 50. Almost Taken Out By A Speeding Car, especially in a week where speeding has been talked about on the news being one of the main causes of points on licenses and how dangerous it is and having recently witnessed a car by me drive clean through a red light, is shocking that it resulted in no action being such a close near miss and sounding utterly terrifying. 51. Mittens, about the comfort of a furry companion and how it can leave you with pet loss and the grief from it in your life echoes in many ways especially when they can provide you with comfort for years unquestionably unlike another human could. As someone who's lost a pet and close a friend in a year it stings in multiple ways and until you go through it and feel it affect many areas of your life, you don't realise how hard it can be to just carry on at all. Another wonderful collection in the deep honesty T L writes with and to share so much of her story too I know people can read and relate to many parts separately of their own from grief, abuse, separation and divorce, there'll be something many people can relate to in this collection for sure.