Shame is an Ocean I Swim Across by Mary Lambert

In this collection of poetry, Mary Lambert lays her heart bare as she writes about navigating love, artistry, and healing as a survivor of sexual violence. Not exactly a light read, her poems are the kind that poke at your insides like acupuncture for the soul. There is a dark playfulness to some of her poems, and the emotional tone oscillates between redemption and sorrow in that bewildering way we tend to experience them in real life. I’m thankful for women like Mary Lambert who give strength to us all by speaking up in a world where shame fosters silence and increasing isolation.

“I once touched a tree with charred limbs

The stump was still breathing

But the tops were just ashy remains

I wonder what it’s like to come back from that”