Vulnerability in Silhouette Finds Strength

As a writer, I often feel a sense of isolation that is only relieved through sharing my work. As a human being, I sometimes feel a sense of vulnerability that is only relieved when I risk connecting with others. Being a writer gives me an excuse to avoid risking vulnerability.
When I was compiling the poems for my book, Strength in Silhouette: Poems , I couldn't help but notice how often strength and vulnerability played on the same playground, and they played together well. I reflected over several years when I spent concerted efforts to risk vulnerability in order to grow closer to those I loved and to be more authentic. Each foray I made into vulnerability made me feel stronger. It wasn't that I couldn't be hurt. It wasn't that I didn't hurt. I was hurt. I felt pain deeply, but I felt a strength coming through the vulnerability that reminded me I could do better than survive, I could thrive.
So, as I sorted through the poems to focus on strength I watched my reject pile of poems exploring vulnerability grow higher and higher. I soon realized I had enough books for at least one book of poetry focused on vulnerability. At first I was excited, my next book had written itself...
But... then... something happened. The poems were there. They were ready. I wasn't. I stalled. And then I procrastinated... And, then I realized I felt vulnerable. Finally, I narrowed the poems down and compiled Vulnerability in Silhouette. As I compiled it, I once again felt vulnerability and strength playing off one another and somehow giving one another a stronger foundation.
To me, Vulnerability in Silhouette feels like a companion book to Strength in Silhouette, but I think both books also stand on their own.
I share my poetry in the hopes it will connect with others in a way they find useful or entertaining or inspiring...
I offer you my Vulnerability in Silhouette...
T. L. Cooper is an author and poet whose work aims to empower and inspire through an exploration of the human condition. Her poems, short stories, articles, and essays have appeared online, in books, and in magazines. Her published books include a collection of short stories, Soaring Betrayal, her Silhouette Poetry Series, and a novel, All She Ever Wanted. She grew up on a farm in Tollesboro, Kentucky. She currently lives in Albany, Oregon with her husband and three cats.

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