During nine months in 2008, author John C. Winchell experienced a broken longstanding love relationship, principal job/housing loss and the death of his youngest sister Elizabeth. Emotional Fissures explores the raw, unfiltered feelings he negotiated during that fateful chain of tragic life events.

The breadth of subject matter is diverse and utterly personal. With no intimate support system, poetry became John's primary coping mechanism, creative outlet and confidant. Blending sublime metaphor with vivid symbolism, he has painted ruthlessly cathartic scenes of painful memory to both haunt and inspire the reader.

Each poem in this anthology reveals the rugged terrain of John's inner emotional landscape as he faced elemental fear, grief and loss with unflinching honesty. The result is a journey of intense pain and quiet suffering leading to deep introspection and, ultimately, spiritual evolution.

A testament to the human spirit's resilient healing capacity, Emotional Fissures offers hope and inspiration for anyone healing from an emotional upheaval due to tragic life circumstances. Its relevancy cannot be overstated, as the collection also encourages readers to embark on their own inner journey of evolving compassionate awareness.