Flowers Planted Seeds Publishing Flowers Among Landmines: Poems & Essays

Flowers Among Landmines is a collection of poems and essays written using the life experiences and thoughts of the author. She writes metaphorically using nature and everyday tasks to discuss deeper topics such as rejection, depression, growth, transformation, death, and love. Kathleen questions everything in her writing, most of all herself.- Deep poetry and essays that feel more like stories. Take a dive into the author's life and try not to drown in the pain as she navigates the dark hallways of trauma toward the light of day. Turn the corner and find yourself walking in gardens made of gratitude and authenticity.I wish I could transcribe my world with beautiful descriptors. I desire to use the elegance of adjectives to paint the circumstances of my life, but my life has mostly not been beautiful. Writing with a tasteful flair to paint the imagery of bright days with smiling growth would be inauthentic. The memories of my mind are in grayscale, hazy from an old desire to repress. Memories like watching movies through the static clouds, fighting with the TV antenna for clarity.I look through the goggles of a small child, native, innocent, and alone. A teenager, depressed and suicidal. An early adult, dissociated and surviving. Now, someone in her thirties, grateful for her beautiful life but trying to heal from the past.So rather than add a picturesque value to my retelling, I write no cushion to catch the falling reader from the bed of nails they may be feeling. I choose to share my life and memories in their authenticity, hoping that you connect with their retelling. For so many speak of peace, love, and light, but many seem reluctant to share about the demons in the night, at least the true intensity of their fright. I'm sorry to say that there is darkness inside, sharing space with the light. So turn the pages and judge for yourself what you see inside.