If the Darkness is Lacking

by Meggie C. Royer

If the Darkness Is Lacking is inspired by Royer’s fear of mortality, her fascination with memory and true crime, and her personal, near decade-long involvement with the field of domestic violence, an endeavor that often encompasses all of the above. If the Darkness Is Lacking is a culmination of the life-altering assault Royer experienced as a teenager, a desire to pay homage to all the women taken far too soon, and the inseparable, agonizing task of realizing that one can never return to childhood.

60 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2023

About the author

Meggie Royer is a Midwestern writer, domestic violence advocate, and the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Persephone’s Daughters, a literary and arts journal for abuse survivors. She has won numerous awards for her work and has been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize. She thinks there is nothing better in this world than a finished poem.

Royer is the author of the viral 2015 poem, "The Morning After I Killed Myself," which has since been shared nearly 7 million times and has been the inspiration for hundreds of additional poems, short films, and art projects by other artists.