Drive Through the Night

by L.M. Browning

Following the release of her micro-memoir, To Lose the Madness, and the TEDx Talk at Yale University based on her life, Browning returns from a six-year poetic silence with, Drive through the Night.

Raw, gritty, lonesome, and stunningly authentic—we pick up Browning’s trail at mid-life as the poet reflects on her journey through her major relationships, both with lovers and self.

The map of these poems traces the poet’s journey of overcoming and re-becoming while simultaneously set against the iconic backdrop of the American Southwest.

In Drive Through the Night, we follow the trail of an orphan-turned-vagabond who left behind the white picket fence for the open range and open road.

Genres: Poetry

154 pages, Paperback

Published April 26, 2022

About the author

L.M. Browning (they/them) is a bestselling poet whose hybrid of introspective travel writing and visual art focuses on the alchemizing of trauma through active awe-seeking and a re-wilding of one’s life and self.

Over the last fifteen years, Browning’s twenty-something intention to help “ensure the mainstream isn’t the only stream,” has taken shape in the form of the enduring indie platforms: Homebound Publications, Wayfarer Books, The Wayfarer Magazine & Navigator Graphics. Their own published works have received five Pushcart Prize nominations, two Foreword Review Book Awards, the Nautilus Gold Medal for Poetry, and the Nautilus Silver Medal for Poetry.

Browning sits on the State of Connecticut’s/NAMI’s Lived Experience Committee and received national certification as a Survivor of Suicide Attempt (SOSA), Group Peer Facilitator through the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Foundation in Los Angeles. They are a graduate of the University of London and Harvard University.

Reviews

[Stacy McRae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This raw, candid, guttural and beautiful book had so many amazing levels. It was deeply personal and split into four equally astonishing sections. Beautiful photographs were interspersed with gorgeous verse to create a truly moving work of art. I would highly recommend it for anyone who has ever experienced any type of adversity in their life.

[Yvette Fernandez Waldrep · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. This book speaks loudly! I fell in love with each page and the uniqueness of the journey I walked down with the author. Simply beautiful.

[Susan Cope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drive through the night, by L.M. Browning, is a journey in poems and photographs. The words and images do not mirror one another, but form a montage, through which we catch glimpses of an intricate, unfolding path. Browning is both creator and created, reflected and reflecting as she travels backward through trauma, forward through time. Sometimes hurtling through, sometimes pausing in, the rugged land, she finds glimpses of awe, moments of crystalline clarity, and sees her soul, once hostage, roaming free in the wild.

Browning’s supple art may be born of the shattering of the soul, and steeped in all the fixes we try to avoid “doing the work,” but in this volume, she has done the work. Drive through the night is an example of what the Japanese call Kintsugi. Rather than gluing pieces of herself together to disguise the breaks, she has called attention to the fragments with poems of pure gold, set against the raw splendor of the land.

[Lucy Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

L.M. Browning’s Drive Through the Night is a powerful poetry and photography collection that traces the collapse of one life, the claiming of another, and the wilderness in between. Browning’s deeply personal poems are organized both thematically (The Taming, The Breaking, The Bolting, The Reclaiming) and geographically (based on where they took place or were written). They are also paired with photographs, many taken by the author on their travels through western landscapes. Imagistic and emotive, the collection’s poems confront difficult topics directly—recalling childhood traumas, pregnancy loss, divorce, an abusive relationship, addiction, and a suicide attempt. As a reader, I found ballast in both the white space offered by the collection and the beauty of the images throughout. And ultimately, I found hope in Browning’s ability to build an empowered life and a new identity out of the shards of a shattered self. In the book’s closing note, Browning reflects on “doing the work,” which they describe as “gathering the trauma within me and alchemizing it into something of use and purpose.” That’s exactly what this collection does. It is alchemy. It is healing. And it is sure to inspire anyone seeking transformation.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

**Goodreads giveaway recipient**

Eking a way forward to truest self from aching disaster and disappointment. Not every poem spoke to me (not that my opinion in that amounts to much if it meant a great deal to the author), but I appreciate Browning’s journey and raw spirit-telling. The black-and-white wanderlust photographs are a delightful addition that add just the perfectly needed extra layer.

Thank you for sharing your story with us!

[Heidi Barr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been eagerly awaiting LM Browning's next poetry collection, and Drive Through the Night doesn't disappoint. I love the pairing of photographs and poems, and the way the author mines for beauty and meaning even during the long, hard parts of the journey. Highly recommended.

[Boydsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very personal work, but you must look close. There is a synchrony of the thoughts, the words, and the environment she finds herself immersed in. The writing is sparse but why are so many words necessary. Browning only chooses the ones that matter.

[Stephen Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This unique collection of stunning photographs and beautiful, often devastating verse was unforgettable. I did not, could not put it down until I was finished. Highly recommended.