From R. Clift comes so intimately a collection of memories, a snapshot of her heart, like nothing she has ever written or shared before.
A travel memoir written in poetry, of backpacking through Europe in the summer of 2019. Filled with daily poem entries, imperfect polaroids, never-to-be-sent postcards, and 3-hour-train-ride illustrations all pulled from the pages of her journals.
This memoir began as a personal challenge, whatever her next trip was- she would write a poem a day. Would she see growth? Would they be more about the place or about how she was feeling? What would she discover? She didn't know. But she wanted to find out. So, she wrote all through Spain, Italy, Greece, and England. When her last poem ended with the line 'until we meet again' she knew this endeavor had become bigger than herself.
For a while, the poems sat unread, and she wasn't sure if they ever would be. She was afraid to share these words at first, afraid it was too real, messy, raw, flawed- until she realized that is the very reason it should be shared. If you have found this book, it's for a reason.
This book is for anyone who has ever felt lost within themselves. For the runaway broken hearts looking for a place to heal, to rest, and to become whole again. For the travelers plagued by wanderlust, who know all too well that one can still ache even in the most beautiful cities on Earth.
She can only hope that through her story you might come closer to courage- to let go of what burdens your heart.
@r.cliftpoetry
First published in November 2019, this second edition now being published in May 2021 has been revised and expanded to add over 70 new pages- including exclusive poems that were originally left out of the first edition.