patina

noun

pa-ti-na

Definition of patina

1: a thin surface layer or shell of varied color and texture, as on copper, developed as the result of age or weathering by exposure

to deliberately harsh circumstances.

2: a collection of poetry and spoken word pieces that have been written in the middle of storms and sorrow,

cheering from mountaintops, stumbling in the dark, crashing, burning, choosing to stand back up for the thousandth time;

this is what it means to have lived and to own your journey as part of your story, but not as your identity.

This is what it means to grow deeper and transform through painful circumstance,

to embrace the change and lean into the discomfort and sting and rebirth of yourself day after day.

This is what it means to heal.

This is what it means to grow.

This is what it means to catch yourself in a belly laugh at 3 in the afternoon on a Thursday and realize that

you are LIVING past what you thought had shattered you.

This is relearning what peace means, wrestling with yet resting in the divine promises of Christ.

This is real.

This is raw.

This is Patina.

"I have been through extreme trauma-of a different kind-and the place was familiar. I know the room that this collection is describing. And I know power when I see it.... This ripped my heart out, showed it to me, and then gently placed it back inside my chest...with perspective, with clarity, with acceptance to look inside my heart and understand it better." Christian Hanna, Author of "Dissonance"