Dear Lovely Lovely Soul

A book of over 100 love letters written in poetic form. Unsent letters written to an unnamed individual or thought only known as Lovely, Lovely Soul. An idea sparked from A.R. Gurney's Love Letters play only letters never sent. The trials and spilled ink thoughts fighting depression, anxiety, adolescent love, inward torture, and fighting through painful thoughts many of us can relate to by putting pen to paper. If you enjoyed "the words I wish I said" by Caitlin Kelly you should find this compilation enjoyable. I started writing these letters back in 1997 after I moved away from New Jersey out to Arizona for school. While taking what I had for granted, I did not believe that my childhood was... shall we say, "the best?" Moving away meant a fresh start, a new life, freedom. Getting as far away from the small, one square mile town I grew up in and out into the wider world where I always felt like I was meant for bigger and brighter things. I craved that freedom and could not wait for it. But a few mere months before I was destined to leave... something tragic happened. I, in my unlearned youth, discovered the sensation of what I believed to be, "Love". It ended up being so fleeting as my time was so short before departure to the desert. Heartbreak was inevitable. It was the first of many that would happen in my life and I would go on to develop this concept of a small light... willow wisp like. Always bouncing from one girl to the next. Getting close, but always fleeing right at the moment when it was about to be captured. It seemed like a repelling magnet getting just close enough for an attraction before flipping and bounding away from a certain distance. Changing its poles once again and becoming attractive. That seemed to be the metaphor to me of what "Love" meant to me and what it would be for my remaining days. The wisp always moving, teasing, getting closer, and running away. "Catch me if you can" it would haunt. "Catch me if you can" and like the fool, I was destined to be, I would continue to chase. I have finally compiled these poems if you will, which I wrote off and on for the last 20+ years. While I know my style in some of them work, and others fall very short of publishable work, it is my life crafted on paper that I felt compelled to share. Knock something off the bucket list, if you will. Not just that, however, more to share with those out there that can relate. Understand and realize that you are not alone even in the moments when you look around and only darkness is staring back at you. Time does heal and as we mature in life we learn to appreciate fleeting moments and understand that sometimes things do happen for a reason. Whether you push your wisp away or it flees on its own, it's always on the horizon. While its warmth might get cold, its light still shines bright and waits for you to "catch it if you can". Enjoy as you may.