We Are All Made of Glory & Soft, White Light, by Amanda Mitzel

Poetry, chapbook, 36 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

We Are All Made of Glory is a collection of poems that stand as an endeavor to embody, to learn about myself through past moments by digging into them with both fingers and teeth. It touches upon secrets and dances with sorrow. It is about healing but also captures in stark frame the labyrinthine paths we take while bypassing a simple realization: love is all you need.

This work represents an ode to the inherent power inside us all and our ability to sink deep into the here and now. And for that there just needs to be a release, an exhale. This exhale is patient and she waits.

Inside are raw observations and a laying bare of brief spells of compressed time. Moving through the warm colors and ancient quiet of a Zen temple, the smell of oranges in a cold-water ritual in the Gulf of Mexico, seeking forgiveness in the beats and pulses of a sacred chant. Some psychedelics, too. Here you’ll find an attempt to look deliciously at things that soothe and things that bite; an attempt to accept and love. To share how I try to keep my heart open so the light can shine out.

Amanda is a writer of free verse poetry and horror fiction who lives in the mountains of north Georgia. She has an MFA in Fiction from The Creative Writing Workshop at the University of New Orleans. Her poetry has appeared in Drunk Monkeys, Leveler, and The Esthetic Apostle. She can be found online at amandamitzel.com and on Instagram @amanda.mitzel.