Linda Drattell’s latest poetry collection is a reflection born out of resilience. Wisdom
emanates from life experience when one chooses a path of humility and growth.
Her poems are about tenacity, healing, dealing with unexpected trials and
contemplating the wonder of everyday life. It may be a subtle invitation to
accept challenges with authenticity, patience, perseverance: the gifts that the
wisdom of experience can provide when we open up to them…
My
favorite poem from Remember This day is the one she dedicates to her special
friend: an ageing horse whose tenderness and gentle attitude captivated my
heart. Every time I read this poem to somebody tears flood my eyes.
I appreciate that there is no preaching in her
poetry. Her poems honor the precious bonds with loved ones and contemplate the
transformation that results from resilience. There is a paradox between the
fragility of life and the strength that evolves from life struggles.
I like to revisit her words, to savor them in
silence or share them… Linda is a poet, author and advocate for the deaf and
hard of hearing in California.
Linda Drattell is also the survivor of a terrorist attack by a radical Islamist on Bastille Day in Paris in 2016.
One of her poems narrates her terrifying experience and reveals the inner emotional landscape of being the survivor of a terrorist attack, but I will only share a brief fragment of her poem:
“Trauma creates a gravel road in our brains.
Thinking too
much about what happened
widens that
gravel road…
I avoid
crowds these days.
Always keep
my phone charged.
Every so
often, my husband and I cry.
July 14,
2016.
I am slowly
forgetting the date.
Then a
similar attack occurs another date,
elsewhere.
How do we
know when we are healed—"
Let’s
not forget…
I received a copy of Linda Drattell’s Remember
this Day in exchange for an honest review.
You can
learn more about the author’s literary works by checking her website.
