Letters to (from) Love, by Mikayla Erskine

Prose, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Love is not something that happens to you; it is something that happens because of you.

This conviction is the catalyst for Letters to (from) Love where Erskine reflects on a decade’s worth of loving and being loved, aiming to reclaim agency within a phenomenon that poets have worked to define for centuries. Addressed to lovers and friends, past and present, Letters to (from) Love reads like a diary, each chapter guiding the reader forward toward present day, where love is both an inexplicable phenomenon and an intentional practice.

With her signature style that simultaneously makes use of brevity and verbosity, Erskine invites the reader to enter a world where magic is inherent, autonomy and surrender are equals, platonic love and romantic love are two sides of the same coin, and Wild is very much alive.

Mikayla Erskine is from Ohio and lives in North Carolina. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing and spends her time working with horses, plants, and children. When she isn’t working or writing, she can be found rock climbing, hiking, and river nymphing.