Every Moment Before This One: poetry and prose on trauma & resilience

by Raquel McCloud

In Raquel's debut poetry and prose collection she exposes the reality of trauma and the power of resilience. Leaning into both lived experience and education she is eager to offer relatability, encourage healing, and inspire hope.Consistent with its subtitle, I’ve divided this book into two sections; trauma and resilience. With an ACE score of 9, trauma is something I’m intimately acquainted with and even though it has taken up a significant amount of my life, it will not take up the majority of this book, not even half. I intentionally decided to dedicate most of the following pages to resilience. I know that relatability can be a valuable part of our healing journey, which is why I choose to share some of the hardest moments of my life publicly, but we also need the encouragement to move forward. We need to hear from those who have endured hard things and held fast to the pursuit of hope, healing, and joy ... folks who are willing to throw us a rope and empathetically encourage us to grab hold. But once we set foot on solid ground, let me tell you what we aren’t going to do ... we are not going to settle for survival, we will thrive. So grab a pen and a highlighter then get comfy; this book is begging to be notated and journaled in.

Trigger the most frequent theme is sexual abuse but you will also read about memories of mental abuse, substance abuse, addiction, abandonment, death, suicide, suicidal ideation, teen pregnancy, and adoption.

214 pages, Paperback

Published August 10, 2024

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved everything about this book. Raquel is so honest and puts feelings into words like magic.