Product Description "Screaming Behind Closed Lips is a book of my poetry and selected sketches that validate and uplift a woman’s experience with longing, domestic violence, crime and oppression, as well as her connection with other women of strength. It is for everyone, yet it is raw, honest and sometimes biting. It is my hope that the reader finds his/her own voice in the words and images, enough to feel a sense of belonging, and enough to find his/her own voice. Within the poetry, the reader will see a young girl’s longing to know her birth mother, a young woman’s longing to have someone desire her, a young married woman’s ordeal with enduring an abusive marriage, and her struggle to escape that relationship. There are two poems dealing with rape, including a gang rape. The featured poem, “Outside a Movie House in Tupelo, Mississippi,” paints the picture of a naïve teenager’s rape experience and the frustration and confusion afterwards. The strongest experiences are most easily written in a formed structure, including rhyme. Sometimes it’s easier to have some sort of control with the written word, when expressing an ordeal that was beyond control physically. All is not gloom and doom. Each poem has a strong statement to make, and does so with an “ah” line, or with an image to bring about hope. When a writer can put a name to something traumatic or tragic, then he/she has some power. I hope that in reading this book, the reader will sense that same power in himself/herself. It’s freedom. It’s healing. There is nothing in this book that bashes males, and, in fact, I invite males to come along on this journey and be a guide and an aide and a companion. Sexuality, spirituality, strength and endurance go hand-in-hand for me and I certainly enjoy a hand-in-hand experience with the opposite gender. This book is for me, and for you, and for anyone who is, knows, and loves a woman who has survived (or not) any of the experiences in Screaming Behind Closed Lips. It is powerful; it is hopeful; it is open and honest. It can be read behind a closed door, or shouted out loud to a large audience. It is my offering to you, and my gift to myself." About the Author Having moved from Virginia to San Antonio, Texas in 2009, Gina Ashline finds contentment in the big sky.  The goal of her writing in "Screaming Behind Closed Lips" is to give wings to words so that others may also find their voices.  Not an easy read, perhaps, but the writing of it saved her life.  Maybe it will help inspire another.