Elizabeth M Rosenow

Perhaps Someday Elizabeth M Rosenow

I am "coming out" in the interest of overcoming the stigma of mental illness. It is said that there is no such thing as a nervous breakdown, but that is just what happened to me.*****"If I sit very still, maybe nothing will happen." That line singes into the heart of Elizabeth M. Rosenow's profoundly courageous collection. Perhaps Someday takes us into that much misunderstood and deeply feared world of clinical depression. I would say that these poems are not for everyone; however, they are. It's time to talk about the experience of this illness as we would with any other. It's time to talk with those who are suffering with it and because of it with the same care and willingness that we would with anyone with any disease. Rosenow in piercingly spare lines offers her own life, not to draw attention to herself, but to lead us through her into understanding. She brings out the best in us-a willingness to learn, empathy, compassion. This collection takes us past the sigh of "perhaps someday," into "it's time."Jack Ridl, recipient of the poetry book of the year from the ForeWord/Indie Fab Review for Practicing to Walk Like a Heron, and most recently of Saint Peter and the Goldfinch, both published by Wayne State University Press.*****This book, with it's deeply personal exposure and exploration of difficult issues, was a privilege to read. In it, Elizabeth Rosenow allows us into her inner sanctum with extraordinary courage in the tradition of Anne Sexton, W. D. Snodgrass and Robert Lowell. The poetry is sometimes frightening, sometimes revealing, occasionally light, but always true, always real, even though sometimes we might wish it wasn't. David Jibson - Editor, Third Wednesday Magazine: