I've always considered poetry to be a form of good medicine. Poetry is a form of writing that exposes one's soul. It's vulnerable work to share.

I was honored enough to be chosen to read an advance copy of, "The Sacrifice: When Transition Looks Like Chaos". I knew how vulnerable this was going to be. What I didn't realize was how it was going to make me feel.

With each turn of the page, the reader is on a brought along on a journey. One that starts with a familiar pain from the first line. This isn't that pompous poetry that we had to have our English teacher decipher for us in 11th grade. This is the kind of poetry that feels like sitting with a friend during a turbulent season, and they hand us a warm mug along with the words, "I've been there too."

Now, darkness isn't the main theme of this journey. It is where it starts but not where it ends. We travel through the darkness, we meet a spark, and it is there we find hope. The transition from one state to another.

In the poignant verses of this poetry collection, Youmie Jean Francois captures the current state of the world-aching, wounded, broken. With each tender exploration of the ember of hope emerging from the healing of inner scars, the reader is invited to partake in a collective healing journey.

It is in these verses that the shared experiences of pain and resilience come together, offering solace and the promise that, we can be whole again.