Jerrilyn Black

I See Her . . . Jerrilyn Black

When "scars have light and air to breathe / they [begin] to disappear." Jerrilyn Black's extraordinary collection of poems and essays, I See Her . . ., is inspired by real stories gathered from twenty-five women, shared vividly in the first person so each reader might see themselves reflected. Through tales of displacement and homecoming, heartbreak and betrayal, forgiveness and the healing power of true love and acceptance, we see how "one minute in life can open a door to a space in your soul that's so big the entire multiverse can pass through it." Even as she draws on women's real life experiences, Black works her creative magic through each line of poetry and prose, allowing these stories to leap to life, leaving us "pining for wide blue skies and those green blades of grass" or picturing "hilltops . . . quilted in delicate snow," hearing the "white noise of blue-green foaming waves." Growing organically out of Black's 2017 Women's Storytelling Project, this hybrid collection teaches us that "not every girl wants to point her toes with precision or wear a cotton candy tutu. Some of us want to boom and stomp and skat, and HA!" I See Her . . . joyfully broadens the collective space we are able to share with each other, inspiring us to be seen as we see and honor one another, teaching us how to truly listen and show up for one another. Though we may at times "walk this earth / as a Goddess / betrayed," Black knows the key to true healing "lives in letting go." In I See Her . . . we see our "reflection transformed into a collage of many different faces appearing all at once before coming together as a singular image." While we find many diverse truths within these pages, most of all, we will find ourselves "standing / in the fullness of our power."