Sickness Doesn't Mean Death Every Time, by Lynnea Fitzgerald

Poetry, chapbook, 40 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

A gut punch collection of poetry that illuminates a storm from a small, yet beautiful lantern. Shedding light on the heavier, sometimes more stigmatized aspects of healing: the effort, the rage, the tiredness, and how all of these are part of the process and worth embracing because they are integral.

Fitzgerald’s words illuminate the power and catharsis that comes from embracing all parts of your individual relationship with tragedy. She puts it herself as, “bad things don’t make you stronger, but your true self will crawl out of the ground to face the sun again and you will feel the warmth.”

Drawing endless inspiration from nature, her work features word play that incorporates imagery that stuns with emotional undertones that cannot be misinterpreted. Sickness Doesn’t Mean Death Every Time has something everyone can relate to, and is perfect for anyone navigating emotions, questioning themselves or the world around them, re- evaluating memory, and/or processing the complexities of the human experience.

Lynnea Fitzgerald (she/her) is a 29 year old neurodivergent poet, mom of two, and nurse, who lives in Newfoundland, Canada. With a love of poetry that stems back as far as she can remember, she grew up reading her great-grandfather’s poems (and printing them off for the love of his life on special occasions). Fitzgerald’s use of words to evoke powerful emotions is effortless, and haunting.